Daily Political Read-In
W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 12, 2000 -- — Once again, the Bush campaign is being knocked off-message by a buzz over a Republican National Committee TV ad.
This time, a spot touting George W. Bush’s prescription drug plan contains a frame showing the word “RATS” in huge letters. A sharp-eyed Democratic voter apparently spotted the word in the ad and notified Al Gore’s campaign, which provided a slowed-down tape to The New York Times.
Though Gore would not comment this morning, his running mate, Sen. Joe Lieberman, called the development “disappointing” and “strange.”
This morning on ABCNEWS’ Good Morning America, Bush insisted that the first he’d heard of this new ad flap was this morning. The Texas governor called the suggestion that it may have been an attempt to send a subliminal message a “bizarre accusation,” saying, “We don’t need to be manufacturing subliminal messages to get my message out.”
At an event later, Bush said the ad was scheduled to come down anyway.
ABCNEWS’ John Berman reports that after Bush’s Good Morning America appearance, during an unscheduled stop at Howley’s Restaurant in West Palm Beach, Fla., a customer asked the Republican candidate about the ad. “They’ll read everything into anything,” Bush said, referring to Democrats.
Also on Good Morning America, Bush repeated his comments on running mate Dick Cheney’s failure to vote in many Texas elections, insisting that he will be a great vice president. Asked whether he has dyslexia, as suggested by Gail Sheehy’s Vanity Fair article, Bush said he has not read the story and that “this is a case where fiction is greater than fact. The story rambles around guessing. No, I’m not dyslexic, that’s all I can tell you.”
Where Are They Now?
Bush today campaigns coast to coast. He started off with the Good Morning America interview from Palm Beach, then headed to Orlando to talk more about his Medicare plan. By midday, he will be in St. Louis for a “one-on-one” event before heading to Everett, Wash.
Having spent Monday focusing solely on the Federal Trade Commission’s report on entertainment violence, Gore and Lieberman today will turn their focus to their issue of the week: education. They’re traveling around Ohio in big yellow school buses with banners saying, “On the road to A+ education.”
The New York Times reports that the National Rifle Association has voted to withhold a formal endorsement of Bush in order to refrain from giving Gore and Democrats more ammunition against him, although the NRA still will expend millions of dollars in its efforts to elect Bush and other pro-gun candidates, including mailings and possibly TV ads.
Empire Stakes
New York holds its Senate and other congressional primaries today.
Manhattan orthopedic surgeon Mark McMahon is giving first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton a challenge in the Democratic Senate primary.
In the byzantine world that is New York’s ballot line system, Mrs. Clinton also will be seeking the lines of the Liberal and Working Families parties, while her general election opponent Rep. Rick Lazio will be seeking not only the Republican but also the Conservative Party lines. Both are expected to win all the lines they’re bidding for.
The Clintons cast their this morning ballots at the Douglas Grafflin Elementary School in Chappaqua, N.Y. ABCNEWS’ Josh Gerstein reports the president said it was “a thrill” to vote for his wife. Mrs. Clinton appeared on Good Morning America afterward, and is spending the day preparing for her debate Wednesday in Buffalo.
Marist and Quinnipaic are releasing new Senate race polls today showing Mrs. Clinton with a slight lead; the Marist poll shows her at 50 percent, the first time we can recall that she has hit that magic mark.
Other Elections:
Selma, Ala., mayoral run-off: The race is between 36-year, white incumbent Joe Smitherman and black challenger James Perkins Jr., a computer consultant; Smitherman is calling himself the “last white mayor” of this city so famed in civil rights lore, which now has a majority-black population.
Minnesota Democratic Senate primary: Multimillionaire Mark Dayton seems poised to win the crowded race for the nomination to take on Sen. Rod Grams, the Republican Party’s most vulnerable incumbent this year.
Rhode Island Democratic Senate primary: An anti-abortion congressman is leading the pro-abortion rights former lieutenant governor in all recent polls for the nomination to face Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee, whose party has been touting his breaks with the GOP Senate caucus on a patients’ bill of rights and other legislation.
Vermont Democratic Senate primary: The state’s openly gay auditor, whose campaign coffers have benefited from contributions from gay rights groups around the country, faces off against a female state senator for the right to challenge moderate Republican Sen. Jim Jeffords.
Vermont gubernatorial primary: Also in the Green Mountain State, the Democratic governor faces a primary challenge from a candidate who opposes the state’s new law permitting gay unions.
Third Watch
Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader appears on NBC’s Tonight Show this evening. The Washington Post publishes the results of Nader’s meeting Monday with Post reporters and editorial board members, in which Nader says he met recently with Democratic House Leader Dick Gephardt and discussed the prospect of Green Party voters supporting Democratic House candidates.
The Federal Election Commission today is expected to vote to grant Pat Buchanan the $12.6 million in federal funds today at its open meeting. Rival Reform Party presidential candidate John Hagelin will have 15 days to ask the commission to reconsider and then can appeal the decision in federal court.
Paper Trail
The Los Angeles Times’ Brownstein writes that Gore may well have outflanked Bush in the battle for swing voters with his reaction to the Federal Trade Commission report on the entertainment industry, with the Bush camp clearly uncertain about how to respond.
Several papers look at Florida’s unusually competitive status in the wake of Bush’s visit there.
E. J. Dionne, in his Washington Post column, reports on moderate Republican Rep. Jim Greenwood’s frank talk about Bush’s loss of ground in Pennsylvania.