Kerry to Begin Wave of New Ads to Counter Steady Bush Attack | NYT

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snip:

BOSTON, May 2 — Senator John Kerry is set to introduce a major television advertising push on Monday that will highlight his biography and service in Vietnam, which his advisers have always viewed as his strong suits, campaign aides said on Sunday.

The new effort comes as many Democrats have expressed concern that Mr. Kerry is not moving quickly enough to answer President Bush's sustained advertising attack and has not done enough to convey an overarching message.

Republicans and Democrats who monitor advertising purchases said the Kerry campaign had committed to spend up to $27 million for more than three weeks. Mr. Kerry's aides would not comment on the exact size of the buy, except to say it would most likely set records.

The new campaign will not only run in the 17 or 18 battleground states where both candidates' ads have primarily been focused this year, but also in two states where Mr. Bush won comfortably in 2000: Louisiana and Colorado, people who monitor advertising purchases said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/03/politics/campaign/03KERR.html

[Borgnine]

1. Kerry said "Bring it on"...

...and they did. It's about damn time Kerry brought it on himself.

[Gore1FL]

2. I am glad he is cranking it up

but when you consider he is ahead after $75,000,000 in attacks, it was probably a good ise to buide his time for a bit.

[Scooter24]

5. My favorite quote of the week..

Bush To Iraqi Militants: 'Please Stop Bringing It On'

[radfringe]

3. suggestion for .."off microphone.." comment

...they say they support the troops, yet they question and discredit the committment and patriotism of veterans..

[Tellurian]

10. Yep!

[Daisey Mae]

4. I AM HAPPY THAT KERRY IS FINALLY FIGHTING BACK....

It is not a minute to soon.... There has been just too much incoming attacks that expose Kerry with false accusations... The barrage has mainly been to screen from the public the disaster and obvious failure of Bush's War.... It is embarrassing to be an American with the abuse of the prisoners in Iraq.... I think that we have pretty much failed at Liberating people that we so hatefully disrespect.... This is a Total disgrace.... Kerry should be pointing all this out instead of taking part in the "ribbon and metals Cha Cha Cha" that is designed by Karl Rove to keep our mind off the obvious.....

[WLKjr]

17. Amen to that

I hope he starts hitting Ohio very hard with ads. Bushco airs one where I live...seems like almost at times 2 in a row every other break for comercials.

Am I the only one to notice that at the end of the Bush comercials it seems that the narrator sounds like a sheep going bahhhhhhhhhdddddddd for something or Bahhhhhhhhwrrrrrrroooooooonggggg on __________ fill in the blank?

[Triana]

6. well I just sent them more $$$

..to help with the cost. ;)

[Tellurian]

7. Just Read the Article...

and was astounded to read a comment like this from one of Kerry's aides:

"The only thing it's done is prevented Bush from having a freefall," said a senior Kerry aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

"That, for an incumbent, is not a good place to be."

I am shocked and in disbelief. What in the world is an aide doing making any comment whatsoever to the press? Why hasn't Kerry's campaign mgr. put the brakes on any random comments released to reporters by the Kerry staff?

And yes, it's wonderful theres about to be an ad campaign blitz for $27M over the next several weeks clarifying Kerry's campaign record...what about a blitz campaign stating the obvious about Bush?

I hope Kerry isn't going to get caught up like Gore and be on the defensive every day and spend days and weeks explaining and defending himself to the masses...

There should be a huge BUSH LIED campaign outlining in print all the LIES and Secrecy going on in this White House. Advising people to save the ad and attach it to their refrigerator doors because there is more to come.

And just another idea.. Run an ongoing syndicated Anti-Bush Crossword Puzzle with a catchy title to it like "THEY'VE GOT A SECRET"..in the newspapers. We might as well have a little fun doing this encouraging people to get involved..

A sample puzzle question to 2 down.. showing 4 empty blocks..

A sample puzzle question to 1 across..showing 3 empty blocks


Down:

2. what do they call a no-show in the military?

Across:

1. what do they call the former governor for bankrupting his state?
clue: opp. of good

[BiggJawn]

8. Was that "aide" Donna Brazile, by any chance?

Is that traitorous idiot still hanging around having "pillow talk" with Karl Rove every night like she did when she was working "for" Al?

Lookinfg forward to FINALLY hearing "I'm John Kerry, and I not only authorized this message, I actually saw it before you did..."

[Tellurian]

9. I don't know who the SENIOR Aide was...but this is how they got Dean..

There are moles in every campaign camp. They sign up early or they come highly recommended by a close friend. From what I hear, Kerry just changed over his campaign people to Kennedy's people..

What scared me was that he has a bad adviser in there already, and he had better find out who it is and give him the boot. Teddy must have caught on right away and remedied the situation.

[MAlibdem]

20. you can't win by just bashing Bush

MoveOn.org and the Media Fund are taking care of that anyway...

Kerry has to define himself, prove he can be President. People are not going to vote AGAINST somebody, they have to vote FOR Kerry.

[priller]

11. On Tina Brown's show last night

They compared the latest ad from Kerry and from Bush.

The bad news: The panel all agreed the Kerry ad, while positive, was not very memorable. Bush's ad was much more effectvie.

The good news: The panel also agreed (except for the Repuke, of course) that Bush's ad was yet another negative ad, and that it's attacks on Kerry were extremely deceitful and unfair.

They also suggested that Kerrry needs to start highlighting his personal history and story. I'm glad to see that they're going to start doing that.

[Brotherjohn]

12. And the bad news about THIS is that only the panel is knowledgeable enough

... to tell that the Bush ads were "extremely deceitful and unfair".

To most people, they will just be "memorable", and since the Kerry ads are "not very memorable", then there really is no good news after all.

Kerry has to take Bush by the horns. It's not being "negative" (at least not like Bush is being). It's valid criticism of his record. It NEEDS to be done ALL THE TIME.

Sure, run a core of a few ads featuring Kerry's lifetime of service and record, but Bush's miserable record HAS GOT to be challenged. THAT is what this campaign is about!

[Tellurian]

14. So, Kerry's ads should reflect the obvious...BUSH NEVER TELLS THE TRUTH!!

and use his campaign's deceptive advertising against them!!

example:

"This President is so OUT of TOUCH with the TRUTH..."

....He LIED to us About the WAR!

....He stole the presidency from Al Gore-

....He was afraid to be recorded in the 911 Investigation..

BLAM!

[Norquist Nemesis]

13. Kerry needs to run ads about his vision for America and

let his surrogates do the attacking...big time. Kerry has very few really effective surrogates getting the message out about the lies, deception, and secrecy vs. Bush who has people like Dreier, Hughes, and rabid republicans.

Kerry needs to get people out there like Holbrooke and let them speak the attacks keeping himself above it while he talks positively about the possibilities and solutions he has.

[Tellurian]

16. Kerry needs to get ahead of the curve...before he proposes a vision..

The Bush camp is using deceptive advertising...and he needs to get a handle on that first..Otherwise, they will just continue to distort his message!

I do agree with you he needs spokespeople out there running interference for him.

[AP]

15. Headline makes it sound like Kerry is reacting to Bush. Perhaps...

...this was the schedule. Outraise Bush all spring. Outmanouever him on TV all Summer.

[JPace]

18. "Move On" should have another contest that collects

ideas on how to present Kerry's positives
to the public in ads.

[damnraddem]

19. Remember when there used to be a presidential campaign?

Not just ad blitzes in 'battleground states'?