The Drug War
The News , produced
for Friends of Phil Gramm by Alex Castellanos of National Media.
Windows or Mac; download time, 19 minutes at 14.4K
; for sound only
The News , Texas Sen.
Phil Gramm's swipe at Democratic opponent Victor Morales, is a standard
comparative ad in three chapters: "Problem," "Good Guy," and "Bad Guy." It
opens with a favorite image from the 1996 political season, a black-and-white
close-up of a bag of drugs. The narration implies that the reason kids are
using drugs is that we're not tough on pushers, who get just "a slap on the
wrist." Valid or not, the view mirrors opinion polls. The language of the ad is
pretested, and this initial argument will encounter little voter resistance. A
subsequent image--a slow fade on a group of schoolkids, an American flag behind
them--is a powerful one. It tells us visually that the America we want is
fading away.
Next, we see the Good
Guy--Phil Gramm. He's depicted in a photograph, not on film. During the
presidential primaries, ad tests showed that voters reacted negatively to Gramm
speaking. So here he is, smiling, but in the safety of a still image. A shot of
a congressional bill and a blowup quote provide symbolic third-party
verification that the senator "has a plan" to get tough on pushers. Gramm's
picture promptly disappears, but its brief presence qualifies the ad for the
more lenient federal rules about "candidate" spots: Such spots can't be
censored, and the stations must sell the time at a lower "political" rate.
Gramm maintains a presence
in the spot via a chyron (text on the screen): "The Gramm Plan." This plan
consists, in part, of a 10-year sentence with no parole for pushers--another
pretested winner in polls. The second element of the plan--life sentences for
pushers who "exploit" kids--strikes another responsive chord by raising the
specter of molestation. The Gramm Plan is accompanied by color film of
prisoners behind bars. Why color? Because in this spot, putting more offenders
in jail is a happy result.
The News now cuts to
a film clip of Morales, a schoolteacher who won a stunning upset victory in the
Democratic primary. The clip cleverly gives the impression that Morales is
actually saying what's written on screen and sourced to a local paper: that he
opposes longer sentences as a deterrent against crime. The spot nails him as an
opponent of Gramm's get-tough approach, as a liberal softy. The red background
complements the negative text and images.
Ironically, the spot
concludes by riffing on the slogan long used by liberal Sen. Howard Metzenbaum
and adopted by Michael Dukakis in 1988: "Who's on your side?" The strategy
here: to invite voters to judge on the basis of social, not economic,
issues.
The News attempts to
set the campaign agenda. How can the underfunded Morales expect to raise issues
such as Medicare, jobs, or education in his spots when he's tied down defending
himself against the Gramm blitz?
The
News echoes and reinforces the message in Bob Dole's ads and speeches:
Democrats are weak on drugs. No accident there: The News was produced by
Alex Castellanos, one of the new members of Dole's media team.
--Robert
Shrum
