http://www.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/060800wh-dem-ads.html
The New York Times
June 8, 2000
WASHINGTON, June 7 -- With a low-key commercial in which Vice President Al Gore expresses his concern about the cost of prescription drugs, the Democratic Party embarked today on the general election's first large-scale television advertising campaign, paid for partly with unrestricted soft-money donations.
The spot, which is to begin running on Thursday in 52 media markets in 15 states, predominantly in the Midwest, South and Pacific West, was described by some Democratic leaders as the starting point of an effort to provide Mr. Gore with a needed boost before the nominating conventions this summer.
Republican officials used the release to renew their criticism of Mr. Gore for going back on what they called his promise not to have the Democratic Party pay for its commercials with soft money, the donations that corporations and unions can make to parties in unlimited amounts. And aides to Gov. George W. Bush suggested that the Democratic commercials would not go unanswered on the air for long.
"It's an opportunity for the R.N.C. to begin their campaign," a Bush adviser who demanded anonymity said of the Republican National Committee. "I'm sure they will be engaging in short order."
Democratic officials say the 10-week advertising campaign could cost $25 million or more. The party is spending an estimated $1.9 million this weekend alone in the 15 states, which include such crucial swing states as Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Edward G. Rendell, general chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said the effort would have the goals of reintroducing Mr. Gore to voters, highlighting Mr. Gore's contributions to the Clinton administration and taking a critical look at Mr. Bush's time in office in Texas. Mr. Rendell added that he and other Democrats thought it was necessary to try to counter what they viewed as a large volume of positive news coverage accorded in recent weeks to Mr. Bush, who has introduced a series of policy initiatives over the past two months, and is leading in some polls.
The first commercial diverges little from the kinds of spots Mr. Gore's campaign ran during the primaries. It not only looks like earlier Gore spots, but the vice president's own image-making team, led by Robert Shrum and Carter Eskew, also produced the party's new commercial, officials said.
At a news conference with the Senate minority leader, Tom Daschle of South Dakota, and the House minority leader, Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, Joe Andrew, national chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said the party had chosen to make the high cost of prescription drugs the focus of the first advertisement because it had the potential to be a "defining issue" of the campaign. Both Mr. Daschle and Mr. Gephardt are supporters of legislation to add a prescription drug benefit for Medicare recipients.
The spot depicts a 74-year-old man, Bob Darthez, who an announcer says is "at the mercy of the big drug companies."
"They're using money and lobbyists to stop progress in Washington," the announcer says, adding, "Al Gore is taking them on, fighting for a Medicare prescription drug benefit for seniors like Bob Darthez." The spot then cuts to an extended shot of Mr. Gore, speaking about his frustration with the high cost of medication.
In issue advertisements like these, the parties are barred from using terms like "vote for" or "defeat." But in most ways, they resemble commercials run by candidates themselves. Mr. Andrew said that what made it appropriate for the party was the ubiquity of the topic in Congressional campaigns around the country.
"It's clear that we've got U.S. Senate candidates from Montana to Missouri running on this issue," he said.
Republican officials reacted less to the content of the commercial than to the chance to criticize Mr. Gore anew for how it was financed. Under Federal Election Commission rules, the national parties pay for issue advertisements with 65 percent hard, or federal, money and 35 percent soft money. In a March 14 e-mail to Mr. Bush, the vice president had proposed that both campaigns renounce the use of soft money to pay for issue advertisements. After Mr. Bush rebuffed the proposal, Mr. Gore argued that he could not be bound by the challenge.
Today, two Republican proponents of campaign finance reform, Senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee and Representative Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, met with reporters to add their criticisms of Mr. Gore. At a news conference here, a tape was played of a March 15 CNN interview in which Mr. Gore said he would not spend soft money on issue advertisements "unless and until the Republican Party does."
"Whether that was a smart promise or not, I can't tell you," Mr. Graham asserted. "It wasn't a genuine promise."