DKSuddeth
Senior Member
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4420934/
WASHINGTON - President George W. Bushs re-election team unveiled his first campaign advertisements on Wednesday and they in part use the events of Sept. 11, 2001, to focus on his steady leadership during turbulent times.
The Bush-Cheney 04 campaign waited to launch the ad campaign until after the Democrats chose their presumptive nominee, John Kerry, who locked it up with impressive victories across the country on Tuesday.
Campaign officials said they saw Kerry, a Massachusetts senator, as a formidable opponent and predicted Bush will be at most tied or behind in the polls until the Republican nominating convention in New York in September. Recent polls have put Bush behind his Democratic opponent.
Were obviously starting this race in a place where we thought we would, which is even or slightly behind, and I think thats going to stay that way for the next five or six months, said Bushs campaign pollster, Matthew Dowd.
The four Bush ads, one of them in Spanish, will begin running on Thursday in at least 16 important battleground states and on more than five national cable television channels.
Two ads refer to the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, as the Bush campaign seeks to present Bush as a tried and tested leader who has risen to the challenge. One ad, entitled Tested, shows, among other images, a damaged building from the World Trade Center ruins behind an American flag.
The last few years have tested America in many ways, the voice-over says. Some challenges weve seen before. And some were like no others. But America rose to the challenge.
'Steady leadership'
It concludes: President Bush. Steady leadership in times of change.
An ad called Safer, Stronger, points to the problems the United States has faced since Bush took office in January 2001, a recession, a declining stock market, a dot.com boom gone bust and a day of tragedy.
Today, America is turning the corner. Rising to the challenge, the ad says. This one is also done in Spanish.
A 60-second ad entitled Lead focuses on what may well be Bushs greatest weakness, the inability of the U.S. economy to generate a lot of jobs despite strong growth.
And as the economy grows, the job base grows and somebody whos looking for work will be more likely to find a job, Bush says in the ad.
Seated next to him is his wife Laura, who the Bush campaign sees as an enormous asset. She lauds her husband for the strength, the focus, the characteristics that these times demand.
Multimillion-dollar purchase
The ads constitute a multimillion-dollar purchase as the Bush campaign begins to dip into the more than $100 million in cash on hand. The ads are positive looks at the presidents record with no attacks on Kerry.
Dowd said a large section of the electorate will see the ads but would not say which states they will be in to avoid tipping off the Bush strategy to the Democrats.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe was quick to respond.
These ads are expected to reference Bushs steady leadership as president, but they would be remiss to leave out some steady facts when it comes to his leadership: a steady loss of jobs, a steady increase in uninsured Americans, a steady decline in education funding, a steady erosion of veterans benefits, a steady attack against the Social Security Fund, and a steady rise of the deficit, he said.
WASHINGTON - President George W. Bushs re-election team unveiled his first campaign advertisements on Wednesday and they in part use the events of Sept. 11, 2001, to focus on his steady leadership during turbulent times.
The Bush-Cheney 04 campaign waited to launch the ad campaign until after the Democrats chose their presumptive nominee, John Kerry, who locked it up with impressive victories across the country on Tuesday.
Campaign officials said they saw Kerry, a Massachusetts senator, as a formidable opponent and predicted Bush will be at most tied or behind in the polls until the Republican nominating convention in New York in September. Recent polls have put Bush behind his Democratic opponent.
Were obviously starting this race in a place where we thought we would, which is even or slightly behind, and I think thats going to stay that way for the next five or six months, said Bushs campaign pollster, Matthew Dowd.
The four Bush ads, one of them in Spanish, will begin running on Thursday in at least 16 important battleground states and on more than five national cable television channels.
Two ads refer to the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, as the Bush campaign seeks to present Bush as a tried and tested leader who has risen to the challenge. One ad, entitled Tested, shows, among other images, a damaged building from the World Trade Center ruins behind an American flag.
The last few years have tested America in many ways, the voice-over says. Some challenges weve seen before. And some were like no others. But America rose to the challenge.
'Steady leadership'
It concludes: President Bush. Steady leadership in times of change.
An ad called Safer, Stronger, points to the problems the United States has faced since Bush took office in January 2001, a recession, a declining stock market, a dot.com boom gone bust and a day of tragedy.
Today, America is turning the corner. Rising to the challenge, the ad says. This one is also done in Spanish.
A 60-second ad entitled Lead focuses on what may well be Bushs greatest weakness, the inability of the U.S. economy to generate a lot of jobs despite strong growth.
And as the economy grows, the job base grows and somebody whos looking for work will be more likely to find a job, Bush says in the ad.
Seated next to him is his wife Laura, who the Bush campaign sees as an enormous asset. She lauds her husband for the strength, the focus, the characteristics that these times demand.
Multimillion-dollar purchase
The ads constitute a multimillion-dollar purchase as the Bush campaign begins to dip into the more than $100 million in cash on hand. The ads are positive looks at the presidents record with no attacks on Kerry.
Dowd said a large section of the electorate will see the ads but would not say which states they will be in to avoid tipping off the Bush strategy to the Democrats.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe was quick to respond.
These ads are expected to reference Bushs steady leadership as president, but they would be remiss to leave out some steady facts when it comes to his leadership: a steady loss of jobs, a steady increase in uninsured Americans, a steady decline in education funding, a steady erosion of veterans benefits, a steady attack against the Social Security Fund, and a steady rise of the deficit, he said.
