And Now for the Nasty Stuff

By Viveca Novak

The music is ominous, the footage grainy: a pickup truck with Texas plates, a chain tied to the bumper, something unseen hooked to the other end as the truck pulls away. The voice is that of James Byrd Jr.'s daughter, recalling her father's 1998 death and George W. Bush's refusal to back a new hate-crimes bill. The kicker: "We won't be dragged away from our future."

Lee Atwater, the late maestro of hardball politics, had rules about down-and-dirty campaign advertising, among them this: if you have to do it, do it late. So right on schedule, gut-punching ads hit the airwaves last week in the handful of ground-zero states as both parties and their sympathetic special-interest groups worked to boost turnout among the faithful--or drive it down.

The Byrd ad, running in 10 states where black-voter turnout could make the difference, is part of a $2 million-plus campaign by the N.A.A.C.P. National Voter Fund. The group said it would replace the ad this week with a less graphic version, as part of a planned rotation. But Heather Booth, the group's executive director, makes no apologies. "Sometimes the truth hurts," she says.

Not to worry: the other side has something shocking of its own. Americans Against Hate, a newly formed group run by G.O.P. consultant Stephen Marks, is up in four states with a spot linking Gore with the Rev. Al Sharpton. Sharpton, says the announcer, admires Hitler (flash to photo of the dictator) and defends rapists and cop killers (video of Willie Horton-style mug shots). The ad asks, "Mr. Gore...what kind of unholy alliance will you have with Al Sharpton?" Another ad, sponsored by a mysterious outfit called Aretino Industries, tells us that the Clinton-Gore Administration has traded national security for campaign contributions and that China has "the ability to threaten our homes with long-range nuclear warheads." The video shows a girl plucking petals from a daisy, a takeoff on the infamous 1964 "Daisy" ad that suggested nuclear annihilation would result if Barry Goldwater won. Bush campaign officials called for the Daisy remake to be pulled (and some stations have done so).

Sometimes it is the more conventional attacks that get the camps riled. Republicans are incensed, for instance, at Democratic ads that say Bush can't use the same $1 trillion to let young workers invest in private accounts and pay seniors their benefits. Officials in both parties believe the ads have helped give Gore a recent edge with Florida voters, which is why the Democrats plan to keep running it. Which leads to another axiom of political advertising: if it's working, stick with it.

--By Viveca Novak