Bush To Aim Ad Blitz At Kerry

(CBS)  President Bush is taking dead aim at Sen. John Kerry.

The Washington Post reports that beginning next month, the president's campaign will launch a multi-million dollar ad campaign that will focus on Kerry's past, including his days as a Vietnam War protester.

"The beauty of John Kerry is 32 years of votes and public pronouncements," Mark McKinnon, the campaign's chief media adviser, told the Post.

The ads will air in states that were closely contested in the 2000 presidential election. The campaign has also taken a close look at Kerry's Democratic rival, Sen. John Edwards, in the event he springs an upset. But the Bush camp is preparing for Kerry.

"We have a job to do to correct the false impression given about us and the false impression about Kerry himself," Matthew Dowd, Bush's director of polling and media, told the Post. "This guy did 15 attack ads on us in the last few months."

The campaign will also air positive ads about Mr. Bush.

The early ad blitz follows a tactic adopted by President Clinton in 1996. Clinton aired ads linking GOP standardbearer Bob Dole to House Speaker Newt Gingrich.