Lee Atwater, the late maestro of hardball politics, had rules about down-and-dirty campaign advertising, chiefly this: If you have to do it, do it late. So right on schedule, gut-punching ads hit the airwaves last week in the handful of ground-zero states as both parties, and their sympathetic special-interest groups, worked to boost turnout among the faithful — or drive it down.
The Byrd ad, running in 10 states where black voter turnout could make the difference, is part of a $2 million–plus campaign by the NAACP National Voter Fund. The group said it had always planned to replace the ad with a less graphic version. But Heather Booth, the group's executive director, makes no apologies. "Sometimes the truth hurts," she says.
Not to worry: The other side has something shocking of its own. Americans Against Hate, a newly formed group run by GOP consultant Stephen Marks, is up in four states with a spot linking Gore with the Rev. Al Sharpton. Sharpton, says the announcer, admires Hitler (flash to photo of the dictator) as well as rapists and cop killers (video of Willie Horton–style mug shots). The ad asks, "Mr. Gore... what kind of unholy alliance will you have with Al Sharpton...?" Another ad, run by a mysterious outfit called Aretino Industries, tells us that the Clinton-Gore administration has traded national security for campaign contributions and that China has "the ability to threaten our homes with long-range nuclear warheads." The video shows a girl plucking petals from a daisy, a takeoff on the infamous 1964 "Daisy" ad that suggested nuclear annihilation would result if Barry Goldwater were elected. Bush-campaign officials called for the Daisy remake to be pulled (and some stations were pulling the ad).
Sometimes it is the more conventional attacks that get the camps riled. Last week Republicans were incensed at one that featured former Social Security chief Bob Ball, who worked under both Democratic and Republican Presidents, saying Bush can't use the same $1 trillion to let young workers invest in private accounts and pay seniors their benefits. Officials in both parties believe the ad has helped give Gore a recent edge with Florida voters, which is why the Democrats plan to keep running it. Which leads to another axiom of political advertising: If it's working, stick with it.