GOP Ad Slams Gore Drug Plan
The CBS News Political Unit is tracking the latest campaign commercials. Steve Chaggaris analyzes a new GOP campaign ad that attacks Al Gore's health care plan.
The Ad: Notebook MD is the newest Republican National Committee ad. It began airing in 17 states Tuesday. The ad criticizes certain provisions in Democrat Al Gore’s prescription drug benefit plan while heralding George W. Bush’s proposal. The ad is airing in Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Washington, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and West Virginia.
Audio: Announcer: On prescription medicines, compare: Al Gore will charge seniors a new $600 a year government access fee. George Bush opposes Gore’s $600 fee. Gore’s plan: when seniors turn 64, they must join a drug HMO -selected by Washington - or they are on their own. Bush’s plan: seniors choose and it covers all catastrophic health care costs. Gore’s plan doesn’t. And has a government HMO. And a $600 fee. A prescription for disaster.
Visual: The ad features a computer-generated image of a notebook with the announcer’s key text typed on the pages. It ends with a shot of Gore on a TV with prescriptionfordisaster.com on the screen.
Fact check: Notebook MD makes several misleading claims: There are two references claiming Gore’s plan involves an HMO, which is untrue. Although Gore’s plan is run through Medicare, it still lets seniors choose their doctors, unlike HMOs. As for the prescription drug benefit portion of Gore’s proposal, it will be handled by an independent group. Additionally, the $600 “access fee” mentioned in the ad won’t reach that level for at least 10 years. Gore’s plan will initially cost seniors $300 a year ($25 a month). And even though the ad boasts Bush is against the fee, he has yet to reveal the cost of his plan to seniors.
The Strategy: This ad is part of Bush’s continuing effort to target seniors by talking about lowering prescription drug costs – a major issue this campaign. Polls show Bush and the Republicans need to work on selling voters on their plan. In the most recent CBS News poll, 61 percent felt Gore would lower seniors’ prescription drug costs while only 47 percent thought Bush would do the same.