Democrats Step Up Attack on Bush Guard Record
"But GOP pollster Tony Fabrizio said Bush could be damaged if he is caught -- or perceived to be caught -- in a lie. Fabrizio's polling found that the anti-Kerry ads in August did considerable harm to the Democratic nominee. "If Democrats can create the same doubt about Bush in the eyes of voters, it will hurt Bush," he said.
Kerry is trying Kerry is trying to keep a safe public distance from the attacks, aides say, although in a midnight speech in Ohio minutes after Bush concluded his convention speech a week ago, Kerry went after Bush for his National Guard service and Vice President Cheney for not serving at all.
Many Democrats say Kerry should leave the discussion of Bush's guard record to party officials, including DNC Chairman Terence R. McAuliffe, who said at news conference yesterday: "George W. Bush's cover story on his National Guard service is rapidly unraveling."
Texans for Truth, which helped ignite the renewed controversy over Bush's service in the Air National Guard, is run by Democratic consultant Glenn W. Smith. The anti-Bush group MoveOn.org has helped finance his effort.
In a pattern similar to the initially modest expenditure of $500,000 by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, Smith's Texans for Truth has received free television coverage across the country after investing just $110,000 in ads in five cities. The ads are not even scheduled to run until Monday.
Smith, 50, a former political reporter for the Houston Chronicle and the Houston Post, worked for a number of Democratic candidates over the past decade. In this election cycle, he has worked with MoveOn.org. With a grant from MoveOn, Smith set up DriveDemocracy.org, which initially fought GOP efforts to draw new lines for Texas congressional districts. Smith has raised money for Texans for Truth using both DriveDemocracy's donor lists and MoveOn.org's lists of Texas contributors.
Smith said that, as of yesterday, he had raised $400,000 from 5,800 donors, all small contributions except for one $100,000 gift from Hollywood producer-writer Dan O'Keefe. The group's ad consists entirely of former Air National Guardsman Bob Mintz -- who was in the same unit Bush was assigned to in Alabama -- talking on camera. Mintz says on camera that he sought out Bush but could never find him in the relatively small unit.
Smith said he found Mintz by reading an alternative weekly, the Memphis Flyer, which ran a long article on Mintz's inability to find Bush during his service. Mintz is now a pilot for Federal Express and, on a layover in Austin, Smith interviewed him on camera.
The seeds of the GOP campaign were planted last week in New York, where former president George H.W. Bush, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and several other prominent Republicans said Kerry's protest activities are fair game. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which has raised nearly $4 million, is zeroing in on Kerry's tossing of his war ribbons, officials will the group say. The ad will air on national cable television.
Buyer, who viewed the documentary made by POWs with a group of 17 veterans who spent as many as seven years in captivity, said House Republicans are going to turn up the heat after watching the film. Luntz, who conducted focus groups in several battleground states for MSNBC, found this line of attack could prove effective. Fabrizio disagreed. "The Swift boat stuff has kind of run its course," he said. "
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