New Kerry Ads Tout Biography
By Douglas Kiker,
CBS News Political Unit
John Kerry's presidential campaign unveiled a pair of new 60-second television ads this week focusing on the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee's biography from his college days to Vietnam to the U.S. Senate.
The spots – which the Kerry camp said would cost $27 million over the next three weeks, a record for a single ad buy in a presidential campaign – are an effort to counter an estimated $40 million ad blitz by the Bush campaign that started almost the moment Kerry locked-up the Democratic nomination on Super Tuesday, March 3.
Many of President Bush's ads have been critical of Kerry and there has been grumbling among some Democrats that Kerry needed to re-introduce himself to the public as the general election season moves forward and the post-primary shine wears off.
The ads will run in 19 states: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin. In addition, the ads will run on national cable outlets.
Both ads –
and – focus on Kerry's pre-Senate life, from birth to Yale to Vietnam and back. What they do not focus on is Kerry's rise to fame as an anti-war protester or his career in the Senate, where he has served since 1985. In fact, the sole reference to Kerry's anti-war activity is a narrator saying, "Then he came home, determined to end that war." Nowhere to seen are the controversial medal/ribbon toss, the Senate testimony or the anti-war speeches that marked his initial foray into politics in the early 1970s.While the ads do not criticize the president directly, there's at least one clever segment in each spot contrasting the two men's patrician backgrounds.
"I thought it was important if you had a lot of privileges as I had had, to go to a great university like Yale, to give something back to your country," Kerry says in "Lifetime."
The references in both spots to Yale – not exactly a hotbed of populism – jump out as not-so-subtle jabs at Mr. Bush, who also attended the Ivy League college in the mid-1960s but did not perform active duty in Vietnam like Kerry. Mr. Bush volunteered for the Texas Air National Guard instead. (Kerry aides said the Yale reference was not intended to highlight the president's lack of service in Vietnam.)
While both ads are accurate, for the most part, one claim in particular is a bit of a stretch. In "Heart" an announcer – talking about Kerry's vote for President Clinton's 1993 budget, which passed by one vote with no GOP support - says that Kerry "in the 1990s cast a decisive vote that created 20 million new jobs." True, but a claim that any other Democrat serving in the Senate at the time who voted for the bill could make.
Also, Kerry's ad does not point out – as the Bush campaign helpfully did on Monday, dubbing the 1993 budget the "largest tax increase of all time" in a conference call with reporters – that the 1993 budget also contained massive tax increases, mainly on upper-income Americans and large businesses. And, President Clinton himself has said that multiple factors contributed to the booming 1990s economy beyond his budgets.
FactCheck.org, which has been monitoring ads this political season, called Kerry's job-creation claim "over-the-top." "It is going too far to say Clinton's package alone – let alone Kerry's vote – was responsible for the historic economic boom," FactCheck.org says in an analysis of the ads.
Scripts of the two new Kerry ads:
"Heart":
John Kerry: I was born in Fitzsimons Army Hospital in Colorado. My dad was serving in the Army Air Corp. Both of my parents taught me about public service. I enlisted because I believed in service to country. I thought it was important if you had a lot of privileges as I had had, to go to a great university like Yale, to give something back to your country.
Del Sandusky: The decisions that he made saved our lives.
Jim Rassmann: When he pulled me out of the river, he risked his life to save mine.
Narrator: For more than 30 years, John Kerry has served America.
Vanessa Kerry: If you look at my father's time in service to this country, whether, it's as a veteran, prosecutor, or Senator, he has shown an ability to fight for things that matter.
Teresa Heinz Kerry: John is the face of someone who's hopeful, who's generous of spirit and of heart.
John Kerry: We're a country of optimists, we're the can do people and we just need to believe in ourselves again.
Narrator: A lifetime of service and strength. John Kerry for President.
John Kerry: I'm John Kerry and I approve this message.
"Lifetime":
Narrator: He was born in an Army Hospital in Colorado. His father was an Army Air Corps Pilot. His mother … a community leader. He went to college at Yale-- and volunteered to serve in Vietnam.
Sandusky: The decisions that he made saved our lives.
Rassmann: When he pulled me out of the river, he risked his life to save mine.
Narrator: In combat, he earned the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts. Then he came home, determined to end that war. For more than 30 years, John Kerry has served America. As a tough prosecutor, he fought for victims' rights. In the Senate, he was a leader in the fight for healthcare for children. He joined with John McCain to find the truth about POWs and MIAs in Vietnam. He broke with his own party to support a balanced budget … then in the 1990's cast a decisive vote that created 20 million new jobs. A lifetime of service and strength. John Kerry for President.
Disclaimer: "I'm John Kerry and I approved this message."