Bradley Shoots And...
The CBS News Political Unit is tracking the political commercials of the presidential hopefuls. Sean Richardson
analyzes the latest effort of Democrat Bill Bradley.
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The Ad: The Bill Bradley for President campaign launched a new ad called Statement in Iowa on Saturday. The 30-second spot highlights Bradley's commitment to Medicare and the prescription drug benefits included in his health care proposal. The Bradley campaign has purchased $82,000 worth of airtime in Iowa this week.
Audio: Bradley: "Now, I served on the Senate Finance Committee for 18 years and I fought time and time again, and successfully protected Medicare from premium increases or from cuts. As president, I'd do the same. In fact, not only do I not cut back on Medicare, but we expand Medicare. What we do is provide a drug benefit that will allow senior citizens to have access to life-saving drugs."
Visual: The ad opens with the words "Protecting Medicare" on the screen. The spot then cuts to a town meeting with Bradley talking about his work on Medicare in the Senate. It closes with Bradley finishing his statement and the words "Bill Bradley for President. It Can Happen" appearing on the screen.
Fact Check: No Inaccuracies. However, as one of many Democratic senators, it is an overstatement for Bradley to take all the credit for protecting Medicare.
The Strategy: As Bradley and Gore squared off in rounds two and three of the Campaign 2000 debate schedule last weekend, the vice president once again focused his attacks on Bradley's health-care plan. Specifically, he focused on Bradley's failure to set aside any percentage of the budget surplus to ensure the financial solvency of Medicare.
While Bradley maintains that it's too early to propose financial steps to secure Medicare, because he expects a reduction in Medicare costs over time, Gore has set aside 15 percent of the budget surplus for Medicare. This ad is Bradley's attempt to show the voters that he didn't just leave Medicare out of the sweepstakes to gain benefits from the budget surplus. He believes that it would be a better financial decision to wait until modern technology has reduced health-care costs.
Bradley is attempting to emphasize his commitment to Medicare, and he's using his proposal for a prescription drug benefit and his voting record in the Senate to prove it. Gore has been hammering Bradley on his health-care proposal. This ad may indicate that the attacks are having an impact and it may be an attempt by the campaign to inoculate Bradley against further attacks. Whether or not it's enough to counter Gore's scare tactics remains to be seen.