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Inside Politics

Many at M.U. wary of political TV ads

Love them or hate them, they're here to stay

By Chris Blank
Special to CNN


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Editor's Note: Campus Vibe is a feature that provides student perspectives on the 2004 election from selected colleges across the United States. This week's contributor is Chris Blank, staff writer at The Maneater, the independent student newspaper at the University of Missouri-Columbia. The views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of CNN, its affiliates or the University of Missouri-Columbia.

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COLUMBIA, Missouri (CNN) -- Since Eisenhower ran the first TV ads for a presidential campaign in 1952, and JFK's cool demeanor in a televised debate helped him beat Nixon in 1960, exploiting the power of the tube in presidential campaigns has become commonplace.

But the effectiveness of televised political "messages" is not so certain. Many University of Missouri-Columbia students are skeptical about what the ads have to say.

"When I see them, I discount them almost immediately, hence I really can't remember the content in any of them," senior Becky Mathes said.

"I've seen the negative attack ads, and I don't feel they really solve anything, and I know a negative ad wouldn't make me vote for anyone," Mathes added.

Freshman Chris Worth agrees the ads wouldn't affect his vote. "I generally don't put too much faith in it," he said. "All you see is two people throwing everything they have at each other."

However they feel about them, M.U. students anticipate an onslaught of candidate and organization-sponsored ads well before Sen. John Kerry and President Bush are officially nominated this summer.

"John Kerry is pretty much it for the Democrats, and I think they want to use the strike-early-and-strike-often approach," said Worth.

Some M.U. students said they are influenced -- not necessarily convinced -- by the political messages repeatedly played over the airwaves.

Blank
Student correspondent Chris Blank stands in front of M.U.'s administrative building Jesse Hall.

"I don't really believe what any of them say, but they both made me want to look into the candidates," senior Michael Casey said. "I wanted to find out how much truth is there to what they've said."

Use of 9/11

Bush's decision to use images from the September 11, 2001, attacks prompted debate among many Americans.

On campus, opinions about whether it was appropriate were mixed and appeared closely linked to party affiliation.

Worth, who said he was more of a Bush supporter, said it was important the ads address the major issues in this election -- even if those issues were painful to some people.

"I've heard people say the 9/11 ads were out of line, but it happened in his presidency so I think it's fair game," he said.

Junior Grant Mirosh, who said he is supporting Kerry, said he thought all of Bush's ads "are a joke" and a manipulation of the terrorist attacks.

"I hate that they are using the 9/11 attacks because all those people died, and now he's using their death to improve his campaign."


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