Negative Ads a Positive in GOP Strategy

NEGATIVE ADS A POSITIVE IN GOP STRATEGY
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Janet Hook]
While President Bush and national GOP leaders are attacking Democrats on such big issues as national security and America's role in the world, individual Republicans are hitting their opponents hard -- below the belt, some critics say -- on personal and local issues. Negative campaigning is hardly new, and Democrats are dishing dirt against Republicans too. But mudslinging is crucial to the Republican plan for this year's midterm elections, because the party's hold on power will probably hinge on shifting attention from the unpopular war in Iraq and other national issues that cut against them. "When people are looking at national issues that are not breaking our way, what you want to do is focus on your opponent," said Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), a former Republican National Committee chief of staff. "You've got to play the field's conditions. They demand very tough tactics." Republican incumbents this year began running attack ads earlier than ever. But the hardest-hitting are yet to come. "You haven't seen the majority of the negative ads yet," said Carl Forti, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, where a staff of 10 has been deployed on opposition research. The strategy rests on the widely held belief that negative political ads make more of an impression on voters than positive ones. Republican incumbents have moved aggressively to shape early perceptions of their Democratic challengers. Democratic strategist Peter Fenn said: "You have a blackboard that's not written on very much -- what Republicans are trying to do is write all over that blackboard in great big letters before the challengers have a chance to write on it."
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-negads26sep26,1,...
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