Campaign Strategy and Tone Advertising Who's Leading in

258 Pages·2002·1.24 MB·English

by  John J. Walker

The Strategy

Money and Endorsements
Gore Bush

Campaign Strategy and Tone

Advertising

Who's Leading in the Polls

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Money and Endorsements

Washington Post
June 6, 2000; Page A06
Bush Campaign Says Gore Is Breaking His Promise to Avoid Use of
Soft-Money Ads (Excerpts)
By TERRY M. NEAL

George W. Bush's campaign yesterday accused Vice President Gore
of breaking a pledge to reject the use of campaign "soft money" to finance
issue ads on his behalf.
Not that there are any such ads on the air supporting the Democrat.
But there have been reports that the Democratic National Committee is
planning to spend millions of dollars to air Gore issue and biographical
ads.
In March, Gore said he would ask the DNC and outside pro-
Democratic organizations not to use soft money--large contributions by
individuals, businesses and labor--for ad purchases. He asked Bush to
take the same anti-soft money pledge. Bush rejected the offer, calling it a
phony campaign ploy.
Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer said yesterday the Bush campaign
would consider the DNC ads a violation of the pledge and another sign
that Gore would do anything to be president. "That pledge was nothing
more than an attempt to claim the mantle of John McCain and cloak
himself in reformist garb," Fleischer said. "Now that that hasn't worked,
he's changed his clothes once again. It makes you wonder if there is
anything he really stands for."
Gore said he would not be breaking his pledge since he already has

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been under assault by issue ads paid for by pro-Republican groups,
including one attacking his position on missile defense.
"Clearly there have been such advertisements on the other side,"
Gore said on his campaign plane last night. He said Republicans have
been "exploiting" a legal loophole that permits Bush allies to run
supportive issues ads.
(…)

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Boston Globe
June 7, 2000; Page A1
Democrats Set To Launch ‘Soft Money’ Ad Campaign (Excerpts)
By MICHAEL KRANISH

WASHINGTON - The Democratic National Committee plans to launch
a massive television advertising campaign today, financed with millions
of dollars in "soft money" donations, in an effort to rebuild Vice President
Al Gore's image. But the move immediately led to Republican charges
that Gore was violating a campaign pledge not to initiate the
controversial form of advertising.
The action is expected to unleash an unprecedented torrent of
advertising from both the Republican and Democratic parties aimed at
influencing the presidential campaign. The ads are financed with
unlimited, unregulated contributions known as soft money that often
exceed $100,000, in contrast to the strictly regulated $1,000-per-person
donations from individuals given to presidential campaigns. "This is
going to be an explosive use of soft money that will break all past
records," said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, which
advocates campaign-finance overhaul, estimating that this year's
expenditure of soft money will double the 1996 campaign total.
Wertheimer said he agreed with Republican complaints that Gore
appeared to be breaking a campaign promise, but he said the larger
point is that both parties will now start spending tens of millions of
dollars in soft money that was never intended to be used in a presidential
campaign.
Today's move by the DNC could cause political problems for Gore
because of a pledge he made March 15. In several television

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appearances, Gore said he would prevent the DNC from using soft money
on advertisements "unless and until the Republican Party does."
Gore, appearing yesterday on ABC-TV's "Good Morning America,"
said the Republican Party has "gone first. They did months ago."
Gore did not provide a specific example, but his aides have said for
weeks that the Gore proposal was void because independent groups that
back Bush have spent money on advertisements attacking Gore. For
example, a group called Shape the Debate has paid for commercials that
call Gore a hypocrite for backing campaign-finance overhaul after
holding what it called an illegal fund-raiser at a Buddhist temple.
But Republican Party Chairman Jim Nicholson said the Republican
National Committee has not spent any soft money on advertisements,
and he said it would be illegal for the RNC to try to stop independent
groups such as Shape the Debate from airing its ads.
"We have not spent one thin dime on soft money ads," Nicholson
said. "This is pathetic. He has been vice president for 7 1/2 years, and
now he is trying to reintroduce himself, this time spending money in
violation of a pledge he took."
Nicholson said the RNC is looking at "all of our options" and hasn't
decided whether to spend its $30 million soft money war chest on
advertisements.
George W. Bush, the all-but-certain Republican nominee, said at a
Georgia campaign appearance: "It sounds like to me they're laying out a
smoke screen to provide cover for Al Gore to break his promise."
Gore spokesman Doug Hattaway acknowledged, "I'm not aware of
any soft money ads by the RNC."
But Hattaway said that when Gore made his proposal to Bush in
March via e-mail, the vice president specifically included ads by

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Republican-oriented groups as well as the RNC. When Gore outlined his
proposal in television interviews, however, he referred to soft money
spent by the political parties. When Gore was asked on CNN whether he
would instruct the DNC "to take the lead in this regardless of what the
Republicans do," Gore said, "Oh, sure."
Given the seeming disparity between Gore's televised comments and
his e-mail, the Gore campaign yesterday said the vice president's e-mail
proposal had been violated by Republican groups.
"They (the RNC) have these front groups spending millions of dollars
on attack ads," Hattaway said.
Bush did not accept or reject Gore's March proposal. But Bush was
criticized during the primaries when some Texas backers launched a $2
million ad campaign that attacked Senator John McCain's environmental
record. McCain filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission
about the ads.
"Bush does not come to this with clean hands," Wertheimer said.
Bush said at the time that he had nothing to do with the ads and was
not responsible for them.
(…)

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Daily News (New York)
June 7, 2000; Page 26
Tax Loophole to Unleash Blizzard of Political Ads
By HELEN KENNEDY

WASHINGTON - If you plan to watch any TV this fall, make sure you
keep the remote control nearby at all times. Because if you thought
political ads were annoying before, you ain't seen nothin' yet.
A newly discovered loophole in the tax laws has produced a
presidential race awash in secret political cash - millions and millions of
clandestine dollars - and most of it will be used to buy TV ads that
threaten to eat up much of the airwaves after Labor Day.
"Politicians generally go on vacation when the election is over," said
Larry Makinson, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics,
a nonpartisan watchdog group. "After this Election Day, the entire
country is going to want to go on vacation."
Fueling the ad flood is the discovery of a tax loophole that allows
anyone with a lot of money to bypass campaign-finance restrictions by
setting up a tax-exempt front group with an innocuous name - say, Club
for Growth or Coalition to Protect Americans Now - to air political spots.
The only rule is that they can't specifically say "Vote for Candidate X" or
"Defeat Candidate Y." Saying "Candidate X is a thieving child-molester" is
perfectly fine, however.
They also aren't supposed to coordinate with a particular candidate,
but the legal definition of "coordinate" is hopelessly fuzzy.
Once a 527 group - named after the loophole, Section 527 of the U.S.
Tax Code - is set up, millions can be funneled through it, avoiding the
restrictions that govern regular political donations. That means anyone -

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conglomerates, secretive billionaires, rich pals of candidates, foreign
governments or even crime syndicates, such as the Cali cartel or the
Mafia - can anonymously influence the outcome of the election.
"We spend hundreds of millions of dollars on national security every
year, and for the cost of a few Scud missiles, someone could come in and
disrupt our elections anonymously - and do it all legally," Makinson said.
The dodge was discovered last year by two left-wing groups, the
Sierra Club and Peace Action, which set up 527 committees to fund ads
pushing the environment and disarmament. But the right wing soon
caught on.
Now, new groups - most of them unaffiliated with known
organizations and most of them conservative - are popping up every day,
according to the Center for Public Integrity, another watchdog group.
During the GOP primary, dozens of 527 ads trashed candidates John
McCain and Steve Forbes, including a notorious anti-McCain spot aired
in New York by Republicans for Clean Air - actually two supporters of
Texas Gov. George W. Bush.
The Democratic National Committee yesterday accused the Bush
campaign of coordinating with those stealth groups, and it called on
Republicans in Congress to stop opposing efforts to close the tax
loophole.
The DNC was seeking some political cover for this week's kickoff of
its $25 million ad campaign touting Vice President Gore as its
presidential candidate.
Gore had pledged he wouldn't let the DNC air any soft-money ads
unless the GOP started first. But though the Republican Party hasn't
aired any Bush ads, the Democrats say the GOP broke the agreement
because so many 527 committees are airing anti-Gore ads.

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One spot in heavy rotation by a group called Shape the Debate is a
satire of "Jeopardy" called "Hypocrisy" in which the answer to every
question is: "Who is Al Gore?"
The Bush campaign says it has nothing to do with the anti-Gore ads
and accuses the vice president of reneging on his pledge.
While the two sides squabble, everyone else should get the mute
button ready.
"The fall airtime is filling up," Makinson said. "My advice to viewers:
Look at the fine print at the end of the ad. If you don't know who these
people are, there's probably a reason they don't want you to know."

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New York Times
June 17, 2000, Page 10
The Finance Laws: Parties Accused of Running Illegal Ads (Excerpts)
By DON VAN NATTA Jr. and JOHN M. BRODER

WASHINGTON, June 16 -- Two advocacy groups accused the
Democratic and Republican parties today of breaking federal election law
by using large soft-money contributions to pay for television commercials
now showing across the country to promote the campaigns of Vice
President Al Gore and Gov. George W. Bush of Texas.
Leaders of the nonpartisan groups, Common Cause and Democracy
21, which both advocate the overhaul of federal election laws, said they
intended to file complaints next week with the Justice Department and
the Federal Election Commission challenging the legality of the
advertisements that began showing in 15 states last weekend.
"There is not even an effort to hide the fact that these are ads for the
candidates paid for by soft money, and that is illegal," Scott Harshbarger,
the president of Common Cause and a former Massachusetts attorney
general, said today.
Fred Wertheimer, the president of Democracy 21, said: "We are
charging both the presidential campaigns and the political parties with
breaking the law with these ads. We are going to do everything we can to
make sure that the law is enforced this time, and that these violations
are not given a free ride again."
Four years ago, Common Cause challenged the legality of millions of
dollars of similar advertising, charging that the commercials promoted
specific candidates, not party issues. Although some lawyers and officials
at the Justice Department and the election commission agreed, neither

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