04-15-1996

WHITE HOUSE 1996 - CLINTON: BRINGING THE STEALTH CAMPAIGN UNDER RADAR

 
           TIME's Pooley writes Pres. Clinton's consultant Dick Morris
      and media adviser Bob Squier "have been quietly prosecuting their
      air war since last August, hitting local television markets with
      $20 million worth of commercials with the national media barely
      noticing."  A map of places where ads by Clinton/Gore '96 and the
      DNC are running "reads like a road map for the general election.
       ... Clinton strategists say they'll spend the spring and summer
      trying to figure out which states they can safely ignore.  But it
      appears they have already settled where to fight and where to
      fold."  Clinton is "spending heavily" in the dozen "battleground"
      states he won in '92, "giving up" on TX and the Great Plains, and
      "ignoring eight other states he lost badly."  What is "telling,"
      according to GOPers, is that Clinton is "already reaching deeper
      than expected into territory the GOP held narrowly" in '92. Heavy
      ad buys in CO and NM, suggest Clinton wants to create a "Maginot
      Line" between the GOP West and his "must-win fortress" -- CA.
      Clinton "appears bent" on picking up NC and FL, states which
      "eluded" him in '92.  The "primary ad targets are in large-to-
      medium-size swing cities" like Hartford, CT, Kansas City, KS,
      Pittsburgh, PA and Raleigh, NC.  In order to get the attention of
      the crucial "disgruntled middle income suburban family voters"
      around these cities, the Re-elect and the DNC are running two
      types of ads: "misleading assaults on Dole and stern values
      preaching spots," including one "with the slogan 'No Work, No
      Welfare,' which is indistinguishable from the GOP version.  But
      carefully aimed traditional Democratic messages are beginning to
      fly under the radar.  Among them is a stark black-and-white spot
      about battered wives that has popped up on daytime TV in small
      markets, aimed at the pivotal 'angry woman' vote" (4/22 issue).
           RNC WELFARE AD:  CNN's Shaw: "Truth in advertising.  Is that
      phrase an oxymoron?  The Republican Party says it's their
      policy."  CNN's Jackson, on the RNC's correction of a false ad
      attacking Clinton on welfare: "Republicans have been saying their
      TV ads have been more truthful than those for 'Brand X'."
      Barbour: "The Democrats are running ads that are based on P.T.
      Barnum's view of our country -- 'A sucker's born every minute.'"
      Jackson: "But just a few days before, alert Democrats caught [the
      ad] on the air and made a home video tape." (The ad shows Clinton
      saying, 'We have to end welfare as we know it,' while the
      announcer and graphic underneath his face states 'But Clinton
      offered: No Plan, No Legislation')  Jackson: "Oops, that was just
      wrong.  Clinton's welfare legislation was introduced in the House
      and Senate in June 1994 and Clinton sketches out his current
      welfare plan in his latest budget.  So Republicans made a big
      mistake."  RNC's Ed Gillespie: "When we sent out the original ad,
      it said that Bill Clinton had not introduced a welfare bill, one
      of own factcheckers came and said, 'Actually, in the last
      Congress he did.  We can't say that he didn't introduce one.'"
      Jackson: "Democrats blasted the Republican ad calling it wrong,
      outstanding in its utter disregard for reality, but Republicans
      say they caught the error first and changed the ad after only one
      day on the air."  Gillespie: "We did what the Democrats ought to
      do which is to correct our ads and make it more accurate."
      Jackson reported the RNC is testing the corrected ad in Chicago,
      Traverse City, MI, Toledo, OH, Panama City, FL and Augusta, GA.
      In the new ad, both the announcer and the graphic state, "But
      Clinton offered no serious plans or legislation."  Jackson: "It's
      a matter of fact that President Clinton proposed legislation and
      is offering a plan.  It's matter of opinion whether those are
      serious.  Republicans say no, Democrats say yes" ("IP," 4/12).
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