Gore Trots Out His Resume
The CBS News Political Unit is tracking the political commercials of the presidential hopefuls. Sean Richardson analyzes the latest effort of Democrat Al Gore.
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The Ad: The Gore campaign released a new ad in Iowa and New Hampshire on Christmas Day. The new 30-second spot, called "Experience", emphasizes Gore's resume as vice president, but also highlights the same issues that he has been hammering rival Bill Bradley on for weeks -- Social Security, prescription drug costs, school vouchers and the environment. While the ad is an attempt to show that Gore has the experience to deal with these issues, the Gore campaign is using it to draw some distinctions between he and Bradley. Although the ad does not mention his name, it is another ad in which the Gore campaign indirectly criticizes Bradley.
Audio: Narrator: "Experience. How much experience does America need? To protect Social Security from those who want to raise the retirement age. To really take on the big drug companies and get affordable prescription drugs. To fight against vouchers that drain money from public schools. To preserve Medicaid and strengthen Medicare. To keep our environment clean and our economy strong. How much experience does America need? All it can get."
Visual: The ad opens with "How much experience does America need?" in text across the screen. Next is a combination of shots that show Gore in both casual and formal settings, such as in a scene in which Gore stands up to drug companies. The spot shows Gore meeting with seniors, when talking about Social Security, and some of the same school footage as his previous ads when talking about fighting against vouchers. The ad uses text to highlight each particular issue and concludes with text stating, "All it can get."
Fact Check: No Inaccuracies.
The Strategy: The Gore campaign is attempting to draw distinctions between their candidate and Bill Bradley. They are trying to do so by focusing on issues on which they claim Bradley has changed positions or which will cause Bradley problems with key Democratic constituencies.
The Gore campaign is once again using Bradley's voting record in the Senate to continue the school voucher debate. A new focus is prescription drugs. The Gore campaign claims that as a Senator Bradley often defended big drug companies by fighting for tax breaks and opposing legislation that would have prevented companies from raising prescription drug prices more than the Consumer Price Index. The pharmaceutical industry is one of the largest employers in the state of New Jersey.
Picking up where he left off at the last debate, Gore is once again hammering Bradley on the Social Security retirement age. While Bradley maintains he is opposed to raising the age, Gore has criticized a vote Bradley cast in thSenate that allowed debate over the issue to continue. Gore is also continuing the criticism of Bradley's health-care proposal with the ad's reference to preserving Medicaid. On Medicaid, Bradley has proposed exchanging the program with government subsidies for the poor for health care. Gore has argued that such subsidies would fall short of the kind of care many people currently receive from Medicaid.
With the two candidates so similar on most issues, its obvious that the Gore campaign will attempt to make these particular issues the central focus of debate. The Gore campaign is trying to raise some doubts about Bradley's commitment to the Democratic base on certain key issues.
More importantly, polls show that Gore's big advantage over Bradley is the experience factor. This ad, of course, is an attempt to highlight this experience. The Bradley campaign contends that they will make up the gap once voters know more about him than his basketball prowess. With Iowa and New Hampshire about a month away, the major question that still remains is how long the Gore campaign will continue the approach of only criticizing Bradley indirectly in their ads.