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Governor's Races Take Negative Turn
Aired October 28, 2003 - 15:20 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Next Tuesday's governor's races have taken a negative turn in recent weeks, especially with their TV ads.
Analyst Evan Tracey of Competitive Media Reporting is with me now to run through the campaign ad highlights in Mississippi and Kentucky.
Evan Tracey, good to see you again.
EVAN TRACEY, COMPETITIVE MEDIA REPORTING: Good to be here, Judy.
WOODRUFF: Let's talk about Mississippi first. This is a campaign that, in a way, has been dominated by the big Washington personality of Haley Barbour. It's also gotten pretty nasty in the last few days and weeks.
Let's look at a sample ad or two.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, MUSGROVE CAMPAIGN AD)
NARRATOR: Washington lobbyist Haley Barbour helped Mexico steal Mississippi jobs and tobacco companies poison our kids. And Washington lobbyist Haley Barbour worked for giant drug companies to stop prescription drug coverage for Mississippi seniors. Washington lobbyist Haley Barbour, wrong for governor, wrong for Mississippi.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, BARBOUR CAMPAIGN AD)
HALEY BARBOUR (R), MISSISSIPPI GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: I'm Haley Barbour. I've run a campaign about issues, about problems and solutions, about working together to get the job done. Now the governor has launched a barrage of false negative personal attacks as a way to cover up his failed record and lack of leadership.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOODRUFF: How much money, Evan Tracey, are they putting into ads like these?
TRACEY: Well, this is a race where no introduction was necessary for either of these candidates, both political heavyweights in the state and nationally. The Barbour campaign is right now out pending in the major markets about $1.8 million. And the Musgrove campaign is right behind at about $1.4 million.
Really, again, Barbour is trying to do two things with his advertising. The first is get in front of the lobbyist charge. And the second is go after Musgrove on the record. Musgrove is staying exclusively on the Haley Barbour record as a lobbyist.
WOODRUFF: And that's a good example, I think, of what we've seen just there. All right, let's talk about Kentucky. The governor's race there, some people have seen it as a barometer for '04 for the presidential and congressional races next year.
Let's look at a quick example of what people are seeing in Kentucky.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, CHANDLER CAMPAIGN AD)
NARRATOR: Ernie Fletcher, the special interests have him very well trained.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sit, Ernie.
NARRATOR: Fletcher voted to give Enron millions in tax rebates.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lie down.
NARRATOR: Voted to raid Social Security to fund tax breaks for the wealthy.
NARRATOR: Roll over, Ernie.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, FLETCHER CAMPAIGN AD)
NARRATOR: Meet Ben Chandler, slinging that mud again. Chandler attacks have been called grossly unfair and baseless. Even "The Courier-Journal" calls Chandler a typical politician.
Ben just doesn't get it. We're tired of the Frankfort mess. Only Ernie Fletcher can bring us real change and integrity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOODRUFF: I'm tempted to ask you if all ads the involve animals. But is it this kind of back and forth in what they're seeing there?
TRACEY: It's been more of a typical than we expect to see, with the ads really starting on the biography and then moving into policy. But now, it being close and coming close to Election Day, everything is typical of the ads you've seen. They've been very negative.
The campaigns right now are spending about $2.8 million for Fletcher so far in the major markets in the state. And Chandler is right behind at about $2.4 million major markets in the state, but definitely taking a very negative turn here in the last coming days to Election Day.
WOODRUFF: All right, but they're spending about the same. All right, let's talk about, in some of these races, these independent expenditure groups are putting some money in. This is an ad, a sample of what people are seeing in Kentucky. We're still in Kentucky here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS ASSOCIATION AD)
NARRATOR: If you like Patton's record on ethics, you'll love Ben Chandler's. "The Courier" says Chandler is raking in money from the same state venders and influence peddlers who have ponied up to Patton? Who will change Frankfort? Not Ben Chandler. Tell Chandler, ethics and integrity matter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOODRUFF: Now, that was from the Republican Governors Association. But what does this kind of independent expenditure this year tell us about what we're going to see next year?
TRACEY: Right.
In all the elections in these off years, politicians and consultants like to look and see what the leading indicators will be. The Republican Governors Association has really gotten our attention. And I think, with the impact of campaign finance reform, we're seeing new groups that traditionally stayed back and did fund-raising and policy advice, like the RGA, now playing as issue-ad players.
They've spent about $1 million in Kentucky. It's been a sustained campaign, really going back and doing early ads on biography and now moving into sort of the negative advertising, talking about the ethics problems of the Chandler and the Patton administration. But they've also -- they spent a million dollars in California. And they are spending also in Louisiana.
WOODRUFF: OK. Be interesting to see how much the independent folks are spending on the other side there.
TRACEY: Haven't seen much yet, but we expect we'll see a lot here in this last week.
WOODRUFF: All right, Evan Tracey, thanks very much. We'll talk to you very soon.
TRACEY: Thanks, Judy. Thanks for having me.
While the Republican governors are assisting Ernie Fletcher, as we just heard in Kentucky, a group called the New Democrat Network is running ads that praise Democrat Ben Chandler. Well, we just talked about that, too. One ad hammers Fletcher's House votes on budget issues. The other ad praises Chandler as a strong leader. The New Democrat Network is spending about $200,000 on these spots. And they say they plan to air at least two more ads before Election Day.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 28, 2003 - 15:20 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Next Tuesday's governor's races have taken a negative turn in recent weeks, especially with their TV ads.
Analyst Evan Tracey of Competitive Media Reporting is with me now to run through the campaign ad highlights in Mississippi and Kentucky.
Evan Tracey, good to see you again.
EVAN TRACEY, COMPETITIVE MEDIA REPORTING: Good to be here, Judy.
WOODRUFF: Let's talk about Mississippi first. This is a campaign that, in a way, has been dominated by the big Washington personality of Haley Barbour. It's also gotten pretty nasty in the last few days and weeks.
Let's look at a sample ad or two.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, MUSGROVE CAMPAIGN AD)
NARRATOR: Washington lobbyist Haley Barbour helped Mexico steal Mississippi jobs and tobacco companies poison our kids. And Washington lobbyist Haley Barbour worked for giant drug companies to stop prescription drug coverage for Mississippi seniors. Washington lobbyist Haley Barbour, wrong for governor, wrong for Mississippi.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, BARBOUR CAMPAIGN AD)
HALEY BARBOUR (R), MISSISSIPPI GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: I'm Haley Barbour. I've run a campaign about issues, about problems and solutions, about working together to get the job done. Now the governor has launched a barrage of false negative personal attacks as a way to cover up his failed record and lack of leadership.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOODRUFF: How much money, Evan Tracey, are they putting into ads like these?
TRACEY: Well, this is a race where no introduction was necessary for either of these candidates, both political heavyweights in the state and nationally. The Barbour campaign is right now out pending in the major markets about $1.8 million. And the Musgrove campaign is right behind at about $1.4 million.
Really, again, Barbour is trying to do two things with his advertising. The first is get in front of the lobbyist charge. And the second is go after Musgrove on the record. Musgrove is staying exclusively on the Haley Barbour record as a lobbyist.
WOODRUFF: And that's a good example, I think, of what we've seen just there. All right, let's talk about Kentucky. The governor's race there, some people have seen it as a barometer for '04 for the presidential and congressional races next year.
Let's look at a quick example of what people are seeing in Kentucky.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, CHANDLER CAMPAIGN AD)
NARRATOR: Ernie Fletcher, the special interests have him very well trained.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sit, Ernie.
NARRATOR: Fletcher voted to give Enron millions in tax rebates.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lie down.
NARRATOR: Voted to raid Social Security to fund tax breaks for the wealthy.
NARRATOR: Roll over, Ernie.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, FLETCHER CAMPAIGN AD)
NARRATOR: Meet Ben Chandler, slinging that mud again. Chandler attacks have been called grossly unfair and baseless. Even "The Courier-Journal" calls Chandler a typical politician.
Ben just doesn't get it. We're tired of the Frankfort mess. Only Ernie Fletcher can bring us real change and integrity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOODRUFF: I'm tempted to ask you if all ads the involve animals. But is it this kind of back and forth in what they're seeing there?
TRACEY: It's been more of a typical than we expect to see, with the ads really starting on the biography and then moving into policy. But now, it being close and coming close to Election Day, everything is typical of the ads you've seen. They've been very negative.
The campaigns right now are spending about $2.8 million for Fletcher so far in the major markets in the state. And Chandler is right behind at about $2.4 million major markets in the state, but definitely taking a very negative turn here in the last coming days to Election Day.
WOODRUFF: All right, but they're spending about the same. All right, let's talk about, in some of these races, these independent expenditure groups are putting some money in. This is an ad, a sample of what people are seeing in Kentucky. We're still in Kentucky here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS ASSOCIATION AD)
NARRATOR: If you like Patton's record on ethics, you'll love Ben Chandler's. "The Courier" says Chandler is raking in money from the same state venders and influence peddlers who have ponied up to Patton? Who will change Frankfort? Not Ben Chandler. Tell Chandler, ethics and integrity matter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOODRUFF: Now, that was from the Republican Governors Association. But what does this kind of independent expenditure this year tell us about what we're going to see next year?
TRACEY: Right.
In all the elections in these off years, politicians and consultants like to look and see what the leading indicators will be. The Republican Governors Association has really gotten our attention. And I think, with the impact of campaign finance reform, we're seeing new groups that traditionally stayed back and did fund-raising and policy advice, like the RGA, now playing as issue-ad players.
They've spent about $1 million in Kentucky. It's been a sustained campaign, really going back and doing early ads on biography and now moving into sort of the negative advertising, talking about the ethics problems of the Chandler and the Patton administration. But they've also -- they spent a million dollars in California. And they are spending also in Louisiana.
WOODRUFF: OK. Be interesting to see how much the independent folks are spending on the other side there.
TRACEY: Haven't seen much yet, but we expect we'll see a lot here in this last week.
WOODRUFF: All right, Evan Tracey, thanks very much. We'll talk to you very soon.
TRACEY: Thanks, Judy. Thanks for having me.
While the Republican governors are assisting Ernie Fletcher, as we just heard in Kentucky, a group called the New Democrat Network is running ads that praise Democrat Ben Chandler. Well, we just talked about that, too. One ad hammers Fletcher's House votes on budget issues. The other ad praises Chandler as a strong leader. The New Democrat Network is spending about $200,000 on these spots. And they say they plan to air at least two more ads before Election Day.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
