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GOP Chair Sees No Problem With McCain's 'Humorous' Ads

Tribune photo by MICHAEL SPOONEYBARGER

"We strayed in 2006; we got away from our principles — lower taxes and less government," GOP National Chairman Mike Duncan says of the 2006 congressional elections.

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By WILLIAM MARCH | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 5, 2008

TAMPA - National Republican Party Chairman Mike Duncan defended John McCain's use of negative advertising in his presidential campaign during a visit to Tampa on Tuesday.

"There have been some humorous ads and there have been some contrast ads, but I don't see that as a problem," he said when asked about the negative ads.

Even a few Republicans, notably former McCain strategist John Weaver, have expressed discomfort about McCain going negative early in the campaign.

But McCain's introduction of the ads — one comparing Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, and one implying that Obama considers himself a messiah — has also corresponded with a comeback by McCain in national polls.

"Look at the campaign in totality," Duncan said, when asked whether McCain's campaign was focusing too much on Obama and not enough on McCain. "He has put out a more detailed plan than Barack Obama. The humorous and comparative and contrast ads that are out there just add a little levity to the campaign."

Duncan was in Tampa as part of a nationwide tour of battleground states, in which he's making presentations on strategy to small groups of local GOP leaders.

Duncan and state Chairman Jim Greer spoke to Tampa Bay area Republican leaders and activists in a gathering this afternoon. It was closed to the media.

Some of the McCain ads — including one that suggests Obama canceled a visit to a hospital for wounded troops in Germany because he couldn't bring a press contingent — have been critiqued as false or misleading by independent watchdog groups.

And the Obama campaign sees no levity in the string of ads, most of them running on national cable television channels.

Campaign manager David Plouffe called them "gutter distractions" in a conference call with reporters recently, adding, "It wasn't too long ago John McCain was talking about straight talk and civility … This is not the John McCain American voters thought they were going to see."

University of South Florida political scientist Susan MacManus said the ads were "an attempt to grab the attention of casual voters, who don't pay much attention to politics" by using popular culture and reality show images and themes.

She said it's common for campaigns to describe their ads as "comparison ads" or as humorous, while describing similar ads from their opponents as attack or negative ads.

"It's semantics," she said. "It's strategic not to describe your own ads as negative."

Duncan also discounted worries about whether the unpopularity of the Bush administration has turned voters against the GOP, although he acknowledged that when he took over as chairman in 2006, "There weren't a lot of people in line to be chairman because we had suffered defeats."

Duncan took over the post of chairman at around the same time that Florida Sen. Mel Martinez became general chairman, acting as the party's national spokesman while Duncan handled daily business and operations. Martinez held that post for less than a year before resigning.

"We strayed in 2006; we got away from our principles — lower taxes and less government," he said. But he said the party is returning to those principles and "people are responding … John McCain is leading in the polls at this point."

Reporter William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761 or wmarch@tampatrib.com

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