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 Ad nauseam
By Mark H. Rodeffer
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In his 1992 Democratic primary race for the U.S. Senate, Gray Davis compared Dianne Feinstein to the 1980s-era "Queen of Mean," Leona Helmsley. During the 1998 Democratic gubernatorial primary, Davis socked an opponent with a charge that he had "killed kindergarten." He was represented in the 2002 GOP gubernatorial primary by TV ads implying that former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan lacked principles and was less trustworthy than Enron. And just last November, Davis accused his Republican opponent, Bill Simon, of committing fraud as an investment banker. Now, in the race of his career against a recall and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Davis' ads say the GOP bodybuilder "ducks tough questions." He ducks tough questions? That's the most Davis can throw at a man polls suggest will terminate his political career? No allegations of fraud? No comparisons to a once-imprisoned hotel queen? Not even a charge that the "Kindergarten Cop" is actually a "kindergarten killer?" Nope. And don't expect any between now and Tuesday, according to the Davis camp. "You're not going to see any of that in Gray Davis' ads," said Gabriel Sanchez, a Davis spokesman. The lack of the slash-and-burn television spots that Davis-watchers have come to expect is not an admission from Davis that voters think he's too negative and lacks credibility, Sanchez said. Still, he admitted that many perceive Davis' campaign to be in attack mode. "It's a sad fact that people think we are the ones running a negative campaign, which is not the case at all," Sanchez said. "When we put something out there, we always document it. Contrary to public belief, all of our ads are pretty much based in fact." Not surprisingly, Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Karen Hanretty is among those who think Davis is running a negative campaign. She noted that California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, a Democrat, warned Davis about engaging in "puke politics." "I would anticipate that within the next week, as an act of desperation as he fights for political relevancy, Gray will pull out a page from his old play book and go negative against Arnold," Hanretty told the Grind. "Gray Davis is going throw everything against the wall he can and see what sticks." Davis' campaign insists that Hanretty's prediction is wrong. "You won't see that stuff," Sanchez said. Of course, a steady stream of allegations has bubbled up about Schwarzenegger's behavior with women -- from profiles in Premiere and Oui magazines that detailed a number of Arnold's sexual escapades, to today's Los Angeles Times story in which six women allege that the actor and former bodybuilder "groped" and "humiliated" them as recently as 2000. Davis campaign officials may have decided they don't need negative ads as long as such stories keep drip, drip, dripping. So even if both major campaigns decide not to go nuclear against each other, it may be little solace to ad-weary California voters, who, let's face it, never really cared much for politics in the first place. More than 17,000 recall commercials already have aired in California's five biggest markets, according to a report from Campaign Media Analysis Group (CMAG), CNN's consultant on ad spending. That's more than $30 million poured onto the airwaves so far. And if history is any indication, there will be a sizable boom in the number of ads in the desperate final days of the campaign -- plenty of time to dust off those grainy old photos of Leona Helmsley. And this ad, er, programming noteIn case you can't enough on political spots, CMAG's Evan Tracey will talk to CNN Senior White House Correspondent John King live today on CNN at 3 p.m. EDT to offer more details on TV ad spending in the final days of the "recall free-for-all."
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