Opposition research and attack advertising are used in almost every election, but these biting ads are coming far earlier than ever before, according to party strategists. ...NYT
Everyone hates negative campaigning but tough, nasty campaign ads help win an election or, at present, promise to prevent a huge loss. Democrats are rolling out the results of investigations of each Republicans for an advertising blitz before early voting begins. They have come up with "lawsuits, tax filings, reports from the Better Business Bureau and even divorce proceedings to try to discredit their opponents and save their Congressional majority," according to the New York Times.
In Ohio, Representative Betty Sutton calls her Republican rival, Tom Ganley, a “dishonest used-car salesman” who has been sued more than 400 times for fraud, discrimination, lying to customers about repairs, overcharging them and endangering their safety. She warns voters, “You’ve heard the old saying, buyer beware!”
In Arizona, Representative Harry E. Mitchell accused his opponent David Schweikert of being “a predatory real estate speculator who snatched up nearly 300 foreclosed homes, been cited for neglect and evicted a homeowner on the verge of saving his house, just to make a buck.”
In New York, Representative Michael Arcuri introduces his Republican challenger, Richard Hanna, as a millionaire who “got rich while his construction company overcharged taxpayers thousands, was sued three times for injuries caused by faulty construction and was cited 12 times for health and safety violations.”
Republicans are doing the same thing -- only they're being more gentle, suggesting that one Texas Democrat has lost his independence. The Democratic party has been working on getting the dirt for a year and they're being nastier. Nasty is effective. And sometimes the targets make nasty easy.
The Democratic ads are like a prosecutor’s case, carrying no rebuttals or countervailing facts. Yet for all of the protestations that arise every election year about negative advertising, there is plenty of evidence that the attacks are effective, particularly against candidates without a deep connection to voters. This year, as Republicans work to gain at least the 39 seats they need to take control of the House, many of their nominees have never run for office and come from business backgrounds, which often include a trail of documents.
Now, in case you're feeling sorry for the poor Republicans, turn the page in the Times to see what the right is up to. Republicans have dug into their own past themselves and come up with one of their biggest bags of dirt -- Karl Rove. Rove has created a whole new machine out of old parts and come up with a rich and powerful shadow party. Among the members are donors who would like to abolish taxes. Helping to fuel the machine are Fox News and the Wall Street Journal.
Already a prominent presence as an analyst on Fox News Channel and a columnist at The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Rove is also playing a leading role in building what amounts to a shadow Republican Party, a network of donors and operatives that is among the most aggressive in the Republican effort to capture control of the House and the Senate.
He has had a major hand in helping to summon the old coalition of millionaires and billionaires who supported Mr. Bush and have huge financial stakes in regulatory and tax policy...
What Rove has built is the machinery to collect and distribute huge sums of money from donors in an effort to replace the failed Republican National Committee under the leadership of Michael Steele.
In a brief interview, Mr. Rove said he was trying to help build something that would remain in place beyond November. “We want this to be durable,” he said.
Already, plans at American Crossroads include an anti-Democratic barrage of attack ads that will be run tens of thousands of times, a final get-out-the-vote push with some 40 million negative mail pieces, and 20 million automated phone calls, officials there say.
“They’re running a very proficient party operation funded by millions of dollars of undisclosed special-interest dollars,” said David Axelrod, a special adviser to President Obama. Referring to Mr. Rove and Mr. Gillespie, he added, “These guys are great political operatives, and they will have an impact in this election.”
The problem for Rove and colleagues -- Mary Cheney and Ed Gillespie among them -- is the gang on the far right. The tea party and Karl Rove are not friends. They're rivals in the struggle for power within the party.
Richard Viguerie, a longtime conservative strategist who has allied with Tea Party activists, said, “We’re all on the same page until the polls close Nov. 2.”
But, referring to Mr. Rove and Mr. Gillespie as part of the “ruling class,” he added, “Then a massive, almost historic battle for the heart and soul of the Republican Party begins.”
But Rove and his organizations -- including American Crossroads, Crossroads GPS -- are in it for the duration. They'll be back in force in 2012 when Sarah Palin and the tea party may be embarrassing memories. The Washington Post focuses on the tea party in one prosperous eastern Pennsylvania area: Bucks County.
It isn't at all certain that the movement will be able to deploy with the same effect for the November general elections, when many moderate voters will be turning out - including those turned off by the tea party. But in the weeks ahead, tea partiers will be out in force, operating phone banks, raising money, knocking on doors - and looking ahead, past 2010 to 2012, when they hope to be the loudest voice in deciding who will run against Obama.
