As fdar as I'm concerned, the more Bush talks the better
THE RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE
Bush Drawn Into TV Ad War
Experts say the president may lose some of the benefits of incumbency by taking on his challenger this soon.
By Nick Anderson and Mark Z. Barabak
Times Staff Writers
March 13, 2004
WASHINGTON — President Bush and John F. Kerry began a television ad duel this week that spotlights the incumbent in a place many of his predecessors studiously avoided so early in an election year — in the middle of a bare-knuckle fight with the challenger.
Far from pursuing a "Rose Garden" strategy — in which presidents use the prestige and aura of the White House to stand above the hurly-burly of the campaign — Bush is going toe-to-toe with his presumed Democratic challenger more than seven months before the election.
That's just where Kerry wants the president, the Democrat's aides say.
"Standing in the Rose Garden as president puts [Bush] in a very different place," said Michael Meehan, a senior Kerry strategist. "To have him give that up helps level the playing field and improves our chances."
Republicans disagree on whether Bush has joined the battle at the correct time. Some have been spoiling for him to lash back at Democrats who have been attacking him for months, while others say it would be wiser to wait until voters are more focused on the race.
Fully joining the exchange with the president, Kerry planned to air his first TV commercial of the general election today. It accuses Bush of "misleading America" about Kerry's tax policy in an advertisement, released Thursday, that depicts Kerry as seeking to raise taxes by "at least $900 billion."
"Once again, George Bush is misleading America. John Kerry has never called for a $900-billion tax increase," a narrator in the Kerry ad says. "He wants to cut taxes for the middle class. Doesn't America deserve more from its president than misleading, negative ads?"
Through their commercials, Kerry and Bush will be squaring off over the next week in as many as 16 states.
