Gore Campaign Calls 'RAT' Ad 'Bizarre'

— -- Democrats see a subliminal message in a GOP attack ad, a charge George W.Bush calls “ridiculous.”

ABCNEWS.comWASHINGTON, Sept. 12

— Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush says there is nothing underhanded about a

GOP television ad that flashes the word “RATS” on screen for a split second.

In a Republican National Committee ad criticizing Bush’s Democratic opponent, Al Gore, on health care, the word “RATS” appears on screen for a brief moment before the full word “bureaucrats” appears.

“I’ve seen the pictures from the ad,” the vice president told reporters as he campaigned in Ohio today. “I find this a very disappointing development. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. I think the ad speaks for itself.”

But Bush dismissed the notion that the word was put there intentionally, as the Gore campaign has implied. The Texas governor calling the suggestion “one of the more bizarre accusations” he has heard.

“One frame out of 900 is hardly, in my judgment, a major conspiracy,” he said. “We don’t need to play games. What we need is a debate on the issues.”

Nevertheless, his campaign says the ad will be changed.

Ad Man Denies Dirty Tricks

The 30-second spot, which has run in several key states, touts Bush’s plan for adding a prescription drug benefit to Medicare, arguing that seniors would have more control over their health care under Bush’s proposal.

Under the Gore plan, the ad says, drug coverage would be run by bureaucrats.

Words flash on the screen to echo the announcer’s message: “TheGore prescription plan: Bureaucrats decide.”

As the announcer says “Bureaucrats decide,” the word “RATS,”in large capital letters, flashes on and off the screen just as thephrase “Bureaucrats decide,” appears.

“I’m responsible for the advertisements that are run in my name,” Gore said today. “My staff would not do this.”

But the man who crafted the ad for the RNC denied he was trying to send any subliminal messages.

“It’s a silly charge to try and get an effective ad off theair,” said Alex Castellanos, a prominent GOP consultant.

He said he faded the word “bureaucrats” to make the ad visually interesting, and that it was just a coincidence that the letters appearing first spell the name of a rodent.

“It’s a visual drum beat,” he said. “People get boredwatching TV. You’re trying to get them interested and involved.”

One viewer who became involved was Gary Greenup, a retired Boeing technical writer from Seattle, who spotted the offending frame and brought it to the attention of county Democrats, who then alerted the Gore campaign.

“I thought this is not really very good — it’s somewhat underhanded, a little bit devious and I thought it should be brought to light,” Greenup, a Democrat, said on CNN this afternoon. “I believe it’s intentional. I can’t see how you could miss that in editing it … It was intended to be there.”

Aides to Gore brought the visual effect to the attention of the The New York Times.

Bush Campaign Dismisses Claim

The Bush campaign accused its rivals of trying to make a case out of nothing.

“It sounds like happy hour at the Gore campaign lasted a littletoo long,” said Ari Fleischer, spokesman for the Texas governor. And, referring to decades-old rumors about a Beatles song, he added jokingly, “If you play thead backwards, you hear the words ‘Paul is dead.’”

“The word bureaucrats ends with ‘rats’ just like the wordDemocrat,” said Terry Holt, spokesman for Victory 2000, which represents the Bush campaign at the RNC. “It is a spot about health care. It’s not a spot about rodents.”

Even if it was intentional, it isn’t necessarily effective, saidBill Benoit, who studies political advertising at the University ofMissouri. There’s been only limited research on “subliminalperception,” he said.

“There’s no conclusive evidence that it works,” he said. “Ofcourse, that doesn’t stop advertisers.”

If use of the word “rats” was intentional, Benoit said itmight be inappropriate or questionable, though not necessarilyunethical.

Still, he cautioned, “It’s awfully hard to tell whether it’sintentional or not.”