THE NOTE: Ad Wars

Dec. 18, 2007 -- There's something about being 16 days out before the Iowa caucuses that demands the sacrifice of subtlety. So with four new TV ads out from four top contenders -- two R's, two D's -- we offer this viewer's guide:

What Mike Huckabee's says: [To an easy-listening version of "Silent Night."] "At this time of year, sometimes it's nice to pull aside from all of that and just remember that what really matters is a celebration of the birth of Christ, and being with our family, and our friends. I hope that you and your family have a magnificent Christmas season."

What he wants you to hear: I love the baby Jesus, and the baby Jesus loves you. (And did you catch that cross looming over my shoulder?) But He's not an Iowa resident who will be at least 18 years old on Election Day 2008 and therefore cannot participate in the Iowa caucuses. You can. Bless you, Merry Christmas, and I'm curious, was the Devil born in late December, too? Just asking. . . .

What Mitt Romney's ad says: [Cue vaguely foreboding repeated sound sequence, like a tense moment on "24."] "Mike Huckabee? He granted 1,033 pardons and commutations, including 12 convicted murderers. Huckabee granted more clemencies than the previous three governors combined. Even reduced penalties for manufacturing methamphetamine. On crime, the difference is judgment."

What he wants you to hear: This ain't tiddlywinks, Mike. Willie Horton. I didn't drop an eight-digit sum on Iowa to be your friend -- or to come in second. Willie Horton. There's maybe half a dozen more where this came from. Willie Horton. Who's crying now? Oh, Merry Christmas. Willie. Horton.

What Hillary Clinton's ad says: [To quick-moving, patriotically upbeat music, kind of like the theme song from "The West Wing."] "The Des Moines Register just endorsed Hillary Clinton. Her readiness to lead sets her apart. From working for children's rights as a young lawyer, to meeting with leaders around the world as first lady, to emerging as an effective legislator, every stage of her life has prepared her for the presidency."

What she wants you to hear: Perhaps you've heard of the Des Moines Register. It's a newspaper -- written, edited, and published by real Iowans, who also happen to live in Iowa. They like me. And I was giving nationally prominent speeches when that Barack Obama guy was in Kindergarten. Speaking of Kindergarten . . .

What Barack Obama's ad says: [To music much like Hillary Clinton's, only more hopeful.] "His candor is refreshing. His scrupulous honesty is far more presidential than the dodging of other candidates. . . . Because for Barack Obama it's not politics as usual -- it's change we can believe in."

What he wants you to hear: I have friends who work for Iowa newspapers, too. And I just noticed something: You can't spell Hillary without L-I-A-R.

All campaigns work on multiple tracks -- generating positive messages and negative ones, via direct campaigning, mailings, advertisements, surrogates, and whispers. On the public side, the forces for a positive vision have won out (for now) inside Camp Clinton, "with the brainy, policy-oriented focus of most of the past 11 months giving way abruptly to an attempt to focus on Clinton's human side," Politico's Ben Smith writes.

"The shift in emphasis from head to heart is the latest stage in a running argument inside Clinton's camp that stretches back to her 2000 campaign, one that pits the voters' need to know their politicians against the comfort zone of a very private woman and the theories of her data-driven pollster," Smith writes.

The Clinton campaign now is soaring, optimistic, energetic, positive. Her new ad doesn't mention Obama or any of her other opponents, and her friends and relatives are fanning out over Iowa's 99 counties. But again there's a surrogate taking (just maybe) a different path.

A day after endorsing Clinton, D-N.Y., former senator Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., expanded on his views that Obama's middle name and Muslim roots are a good thing for a potential president (again ensuring that a national television audience knows that Barack Hussein Obama had a father and a grandfather who were Muslim.) "I've watched the blogs, try to say that you can't trust him because he spent a little bit of time in a secular madrassa," Kerrey said on CNN yesterday. "I feel quite opposite."

This comes hard on the (snowy) heels of Billy Shaheen's casual reference to Obama's past drug use. "Thematic? Who knows. Code? Orchestrated? Anyone's guess. But let's think about the cumulative effect. That is what matters. Only words are heard, seen, read . . . over and over," Kate Phillips writes for The New York Times. "Meanwhile, we'll wait and listen and watch. Whisper campaigns reverberate off the buzz words."

Clinton weighs in herself: "I think Sen. Kerrey was being, you know, very generous in what he said," she tells the Quad-City Times' Ed Tibbetts.

Yes, Kerrey was offering biographical details in the context of praising Obama, D-Ill. Yes, Kerrey has always spoken his own mind. Yes, Obama is proud of his diverse heritage.

But don't forget that Bob Kerrey is backing Clinton. In the realm of praise, shouldn't it be up to Obama and his backers what they want to emphasize and how? Malicious or not, how many times can Kerrey work "Barack Hussein Obama" into a sentence without looking like he's playing in Ann Coulter's sandbox?