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New Ads Aim to Bring Kerry to the People
$25 Million Invested in Spots Airing In Expanded Battleground States
By Howard Kurtz and Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, May 4, 2004; Page A01
Faced with mounting evidence that voters do not know much about him, Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) launched two new biographical ads yesterday, including testimonials from his wife, daughter and Vietnam crewmates, in a $25 million roll of the dice that aides described as unprecedented for a challenger.
"We really have just begun to introduce him," said Kerry strategist Tad Devine, explaining why the campaign is investing so heavily in publicizing such oft-repeated facts as Kerry's decorated service in Vietnam. The 60-second spots, touting "a lifetime of service and strength," will air on national cable channels and in 19 contested states -- expanded to include Louisiana and Colorado.
The commercials are designed in part to counter a $60 million advertising barrage by President Bush, much of which has depicted the Massachusetts Democrat as weak on defense and devoted to higher taxes. The dramatic highlight comes when one crewmate, Del Sandusky, says "the decisions that he made saved our lives," and the man whom Kerry rescued from a swift boat under fire, Jim Rassmann, says: "When he pulled me out of the river, he risked his life to save mine."
Kerry aides describe the decision to spend $25 million on two spots -- which they call the most expensive advertising blitz in presidential campaign history -- as based on their research that most voters know little about the candidate's background or record. They say this is hardly unusual for a challenger at this stage and that even Al Gore, as an incumbent vice president, faced similar difficulties in the spring of 2000.
Still, Kerry's media offensive comes as some Democrats are expressing concerns about the candidate's early performance.
"Some people feel a little nervous about what's been going on in the last three or four weeks," said Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.). "Democrats who believe that Bush has performed so poorly . . . are a little confounded with the fact that [the race] is still even." Most national polls taken in recent weeks show a virtual tie.
But for the most part, Democrats interviewed in recent weeks said they were generally pleased with Kerry's prospects and attributed any stumbles to his inexperience on the presidential stage and the savvy of the battle-tested Bush operation.
"The election is more than 180 days away, and everyone is tying themselves into knots about the back and forth of this thing," Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes (D-Md.) said.
Some of Kerry's surface wounds are self-inflicted, Democrats say. The candidate has tried to focus on a major theme each week -- the environment around Earth Day, job loss during a Rust Belt tour last week -- but he often gets pulled into fights picked by the GOP over national security. Kerry spent much of last week explaining whether he tossed away his war medals or ribbons and then questioning Bush's National Guard record.
Some Democrats say Kerry is working through the growing pains expected of a first-time White House hopeful: His staff is new and somewhat inexperienced in presidential politics, and his operation in key battleground states pales in numbers and experience to Bush's. His stump speech and delivery style often leave crowds wanting. Some aides have privately complained that an aggressive ad campaign has been too slow in coming.
Campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill denied that the campaign has been flagging, saying that it was almost broke after Super Tuesday in early March and that Kerry had to devote much of that month to fundraising while Bush saturated the airwaves. In contrast to Bush's "misleading negative ads," she said, "John Kerry is running a wholly positive campaign." Kerry has, however, run a number of negative ads against Bush, during the primaries and since effectively sewing up the nomination.
Bush campaign chief strategist Matthew Dowd scoffed at the ads, telling reporters that after three decades in public life, "in May of 2004, he's deciding he has to have a biography about himself?"
Asked whether the campaign was responding to Bush ads accusing Kerry of repeatedly voting against major weapons systems, Michael Donilon, Devine's partner in the consulting firm that made the ads, called that charge "ridiculous . . . when you look at what he has done in terms of putting his life on the line for this country."
In the ads, the sometimes dour Kerry borrows a theme sounded by Bush in his first spot -- "I'm optimistic about America" -- by saying, "We're a country of optimists."
Kerry notes that he was born in an Army hospital while his father was serving, and tries to defuse criticism of his wealth by discussing his reason for enlisting: "I thought it was important if you had a lot of privileges as I had had, to go to a great university like Yale, to give something back to your country." He also points out his work on the POW issue with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a Kerry friend who is backing Bush.
One ad features Kerry's wife, Teresa, and daughter Vanessa. The other trumpets his Senate support for children's health care, his decision to back a balanced-budget amendment in 1985 and his 1993 vote for President Bill Clinton's deficit-reduction measure, which most financial analysts credit with boosting the economy.
That was "a vote for the largest tax increase in history," said Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman, adding Kerry also chose to highlight "his back-seat support for Ted Kennedy's health care legislation."
Since wrapping up the nomination two months ago, Kerry has sometimes struggled to strike a coherent and consistent theme on the campaign trail and often finds himself playing defense against attacks from Bush and his allies. "I think what the Kerry campaign has got to understand is that you don't have to get down in the weeds with these people," said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).
Like most challengers at this early juncture, Kerry is often an afterthought on the evening news and in local papers, whereas Bush is the story most every day. A Bush news conference commands national attention; Kerry is lucky to draw two dozen reporters.
Part of the GOP strategy is to paint Kerry as lacking principle and consistency. Republicans cite as evidence his statement that he did not own an SUV only to later clarify that his wife does, and that he said he voted for $87 billion in funding for Iraq and Afghanistan before voting against it -- a line that shows up in a Bush ad. Kerry has explained that he switched his vote because the final bill did not require Bush to pay for the funding by rolling back part of his tax cut for the wealthy.
Kerry has not yet identified himself with an agenda or major issue. For Bush in 2000, it was tax cuts, education and "compassionate conservatism." For Clinton, it was a "New Democrat" commitment to economic fairness and welfare reform. Kerry is trying to position himself as a fiscal conservative and foreign policy hawk, but history shows it often takes challengers until at least the summer conventions to cement an image with voters.
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
New Ads Aim to Bring Kerry to the People
$25 Million Invested in Spots Airing In Expanded Battleground States
By Howard Kurtz and Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, May 4, 2004; Page A01
Faced with mounting evidence that voters do not know much about him, Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) launched two new biographical ads yesterday, including testimonials from his wife, daughter and Vietnam crewmates, in a $25 million roll of the dice that aides described as unprecedented for a challenger.
"We really have just begun to introduce him," said Kerry strategist Tad Devine, explaining why the campaign is investing so heavily in publicizing such oft-repeated facts as Kerry's decorated service in Vietnam. The 60-second spots, touting "a lifetime of service and strength," will air on national cable channels and in 19 contested states -- expanded to include Louisiana and Colorado.
The commercials are designed in part to counter a $60 million advertising barrage by President Bush, much of which has depicted the Massachusetts Democrat as weak on defense and devoted to higher taxes. The dramatic highlight comes when one crewmate, Del Sandusky, says "the decisions that he made saved our lives," and the man whom Kerry rescued from a swift boat under fire, Jim Rassmann, says: "When he pulled me out of the river, he risked his life to save mine."
Kerry aides describe the decision to spend $25 million on two spots -- which they call the most expensive advertising blitz in presidential campaign history -- as based on their research that most voters know little about the candidate's background or record. They say this is hardly unusual for a challenger at this stage and that even Al Gore, as an incumbent vice president, faced similar difficulties in the spring of 2000.
Still, Kerry's media offensive comes as some Democrats are expressing concerns about the candidate's early performance.
"Some people feel a little nervous about what's been going on in the last three or four weeks," said Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.). "Democrats who believe that Bush has performed so poorly . . . are a little confounded with the fact that [the race] is still even." Most national polls taken in recent weeks show a virtual tie.
But for the most part, Democrats interviewed in recent weeks said they were generally pleased with Kerry's prospects and attributed any stumbles to his inexperience on the presidential stage and the savvy of the battle-tested Bush operation.
"The election is more than 180 days away, and everyone is tying themselves into knots about the back and forth of this thing," Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes (D-Md.) said.
Some of Kerry's surface wounds are self-inflicted, Democrats say. The candidate has tried to focus on a major theme each week -- the environment around Earth Day, job loss during a Rust Belt tour last week -- but he often gets pulled into fights picked by the GOP over national security. Kerry spent much of last week explaining whether he tossed away his war medals or ribbons and then questioning Bush's National Guard record.
Some Democrats say Kerry is working through the growing pains expected of a first-time White House hopeful: His staff is new and somewhat inexperienced in presidential politics, and his operation in key battleground states pales in numbers and experience to Bush's. His stump speech and delivery style often leave crowds wanting. Some aides have privately complained that an aggressive ad campaign has been too slow in coming.
Campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill denied that the campaign has been flagging, saying that it was almost broke after Super Tuesday in early March and that Kerry had to devote much of that month to fundraising while Bush saturated the airwaves. In contrast to Bush's "misleading negative ads," she said, "John Kerry is running a wholly positive campaign." Kerry has, however, run a number of negative ads against Bush, during the primaries and since effectively sewing up the nomination.
Bush campaign chief strategist Matthew Dowd scoffed at the ads, telling reporters that after three decades in public life, "in May of 2004, he's deciding he has to have a biography about himself?"
Asked whether the campaign was responding to Bush ads accusing Kerry of repeatedly voting against major weapons systems, Michael Donilon, Devine's partner in the consulting firm that made the ads, called that charge "ridiculous . . . when you look at what he has done in terms of putting his life on the line for this country."
In the ads, the sometimes dour Kerry borrows a theme sounded by Bush in his first spot -- "I'm optimistic about America" -- by saying, "We're a country of optimists."
Kerry notes that he was born in an Army hospital while his father was serving, and tries to defuse criticism of his wealth by discussing his reason for enlisting: "I thought it was important if you had a lot of privileges as I had had, to go to a great university like Yale, to give something back to your country." He also points out his work on the POW issue with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a Kerry friend who is backing Bush.
One ad features Kerry's wife, Teresa, and daughter Vanessa. The other trumpets his Senate support for children's health care, his decision to back a balanced-budget amendment in 1985 and his 1993 vote for President Bill Clinton's deficit-reduction measure, which most financial analysts credit with boosting the economy.
That was "a vote for the largest tax increase in history," said Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman, adding Kerry also chose to highlight "his back-seat support for Ted Kennedy's health care legislation."
Since wrapping up the nomination two months ago, Kerry has sometimes struggled to strike a coherent and consistent theme on the campaign trail and often finds himself playing defense against attacks from Bush and his allies. "I think what the Kerry campaign has got to understand is that you don't have to get down in the weeds with these people," said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).
Like most challengers at this early juncture, Kerry is often an afterthought on the evening news and in local papers, whereas Bush is the story most every day. A Bush news conference commands national attention; Kerry is lucky to draw two dozen reporters.
Part of the GOP strategy is to paint Kerry as lacking principle and consistency. Republicans cite as evidence his statement that he did not own an SUV only to later clarify that his wife does, and that he said he voted for $87 billion in funding for Iraq and Afghanistan before voting against it -- a line that shows up in a Bush ad. Kerry has explained that he switched his vote because the final bill did not require Bush to pay for the funding by rolling back part of his tax cut for the wealthy.
Kerry has not yet identified himself with an agenda or major issue. For Bush in 2000, it was tax cuts, education and "compassionate conservatism." For Clinton, it was a "New Democrat" commitment to economic fairness and welfare reform. Kerry is trying to position himself as a fiscal conservative and foreign policy hawk, but history shows it often takes challengers until at least the summer conventions to cement an image with voters.
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
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