Copyright 2000 The National Journal, Inc.
The National Journal
September 23, 2000
SECTION: POLITICS; Vol. 32, No. 39
LENGTH: 934 words
HEADLINE:
Airing Their Differences
BYLINE: Peter H. Stone
BODY:
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce plans to
launch in early October a
multimillion-dollar television advertising
campaign to promote
the key votes of about two dozen House allies. Some of
the issue
ads are expected to air in districts where pro-business
lawmakers-mostly Republicans-voted against the patients' bill of
rights and have been the targets of negative ads from the AFL-
CIO.
The chamber's TV-ad efforts typify the huge
sums of "soft
money" that groups are spending in a few dozen highly
competitive
districts. This special-interest spending is in addition to the
tens of millions of dollars in unregulated money that the
Republican and
Democratic Party committees are plowing into issue
ads. By law, issue ads
cannot directly advocate a candidate's
election. The
AFL-CIO, environmental groups, and gun control
organizations have launched
big TV-ad efforts that are heavily
tilted toward helping Democrats. Business
and ideological allies
who generally favor the GOP are preparing
counterattacks.
The amount of money being spent on
ads this year has
exploded, in part, because several of the most active
groups are
so-called 527s, which are set up to rake in large, unregulated
soft-money contributions. "There's a huge amount of money out
there and
a relative handful of competitive races," says veteran
campaign finance
reform advocate Fred Wertheimer, who runs
Democracy 21, a nonprofit,
nonpartisan group. Many of these ads
are "virtually indistinguishable from
candidates' own ads,"
Wertheimer says.
Of all
the groups, the AFL-CIO is probably promoting the
most comprehensive agenda
of issues. While the labor group's
officials say that they are are putting
the bulk of their $ 40
million war chest into grass-roots efforts, they
consider issue
ads an important political tool. "Doing ads helps shape the
debate about issues such as Medicare and Social Security reform.
Ads
help to energize people on the ground and motivate working
families to vote
on issues of importance to us," says Steve
Rosenthal, the AFL-CIO's
political director.
Since the beginning of the
summer, the labor group has
spent an estimated $ 6 million to $ 8 million on
a series of TV ads
in districts where Republican incumbents voted against
the AFL-
CIO on issues such as the patients' bill of
rights, prescription
drug benefits, and ergonomics legislation. In
four battleground
states, the labor federation also recently started running
ads
focusing on George W. Bush's position on Social Security reform.
The
unions charge that Bush's plan to divert part of Social
Security
contributions into individual stock accounts could
reduce benefits.
The AFL-CIO's biggest ad effort this year has been
its
blitz against 12 GOP House members who didn't support adding a
prescription drug benefit to Medicare.
In early
September, Citizens for Better Medicare, a drug-
industry-backed 527 group,
responded with about $ 5 million worth
of ads in 18 House districts,
including the 12 targeted by labor.
The ads praise GOP members such as Brian
P. Bilbray, R-Calif.;
Jay W. Dickey, R-Ark.; and Anne Northup, R-Ky., who
voted for the
House-passed GOP bill that would provide a prescription drug
benefit to seniors through private insurance.
Tim Ryan, Citizens for Better Medicare's executive
director and a
former official at the Pharmaceutical Research and
Manufacturers of America,
says the campaign may continue through
October, which would double its cost.
The group is also airing
ads to back the stances of GOP Senators in
Michigan, Missouri,
Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The effort is expected to cost
between $ 2
million and $ 4 million. Since its inception in mid-1999, the
group has spent close to $ 60 million on issue ads, many of them
attacking Democratic proposals for a prescription drug benefit.
Meanwhile, the Chamber of Commerce is putting the
final
touches on an ad campaign to counter labor ads. R. Bruce Josten,
the chamber's top lobbyist, estimates that the group will spend
approximately $ 5 million on TV ads in 25 House districts, as many
as 10
Senate contests, and four state Supreme Court races. "Our
issue ads will
applaud many of these same House members for votes
they've cast to help
address the crisis of uninsured Americans."
For its
part, the Business Roundtable, the corporate
behemoth that has some 200 CEOs
as members, plans an ad effort
that will run next month in about 40
districts and cost as much
as $ 8 million. The ads will tout the stands of
congressional
members who oppose the patients' bill of
rights legislation but
backed the free- trade bills.
Other issue ads are concentrating on the presidential
race.
Next month, the National Rifle Association will start
running ads in key
states contrasting the gun control views of Al
Gore, an NRA opponent, and
George W. Bush, who has generally
sided with the NRA's agenda. The ads will
cost well over $ 1
million. James Jay Baker, the NRA's top lobbyist, says
that in
states such as Pennsylvania, the NRA is appealing to "crossover"
voters-union members who belong to the NRA.
The
NRA's presidential ad blitz follows a drive by
Handgun Control, which so far
has spent $ 1.5 million on TV ads
that spotlight Bush's opposition to gun
control. The ads also
feature a top NRA official boasting that if Bush is
elected, the
NRA will work out of the Oval Office.
LOAD-DATE: September 26, 2000
