Groups Launch Controversial Attack Ads

Oct. 28 -- Desperate to break the deadlock between George W. Bush and Al Gore as Election Day nears, political groups are unleashing the most inflammatory attack advertising of the 2000 presidential campaign.

The Bush campaign cried foul over a recorded telephone message that blames the Republican candidate for the 1996 death of an elderly man in a Texas nursing home.

“My husband passed away nearly four years ago from an illness that his nursing home attendants failed to notice,” Ann Friday, widow of Jack Friday,

says on the call. “He could be alive today if it weren’t for the neglect he experienced. When George W. Bush ran for governor, he promised to improve the quality of life for nursing home residents. But Governor Bush broke that promise when he signed legislation that weakened nursing home standards.”

That message is one of a series of pre-taped calls being sent out by the Michigan Democratic Party in an effort to sway voters in that must-win battleground state. “It is wrong and despicable,” Bush communications director Karen Hughes responded Thursday, demanding the calls be stopped.

Bush’s aides insist quality regulations for Texas nursing homes have been strengthened under the governor’s watch and deny a claim made in the message that complaints about the facilities have doubled.

“They cross the line,” Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer said. “American politics can be rough, but Vice President Gore goes too far. This phone [call] shows he will do and say anything to get elected.”

But the Gore campaign is refusing to back down.

“It’s factually accurate and we stand by it,” said one aide to the vice president.

Shadows of the Past

Meanwhile, a group supporting Bush produced a television ad that closely mimics one of the most notoriously negative political advertisements ever made. Though very little money was spent to buy airtime for the ad, it was widely covered in the national media.