Reno runs party-funded ads

Janet Reno's decision to run her first TV ads before the primary hints she's less sure of her lead over Bill McBride.

By WES ALLISON, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published August 27, 2002

When her chief competitor began tapping the coffers of the Florida Democratic Party to run ads and pay staff, Janet Reno's campaign was clear: Party money should not be used to help one candidate over another.

On Monday, however, Reno's campaign for governor wound up to the trough.

Reno took advantage of Democratic Party offers to help and began airing two television advertisements in six markets around the state, including the Tampa Bay area.

They are her first TV ads this campaign, and suggest Reno is less sure of beating Tampa lawyer Bill McBride -- who has been advertising liberally -- in the Sept. 10 primary than she has been.

Reno campaign manager Mo Elleithee contends that's not the case.

"Whether or not we were going (on air) in the primary was a decision we just waited to make," he said. "But we believe any money we do spend, any television advertising we buy in the primary, will help us in the general election."

One ad pushes Reno's commitment to health care. The other, which shows her riding in her red truck and kayaking, is designed to reintroduce her to Floridians. Rather than the grim-faced U.S. attorney general, she is portrayed as a native Floridian who cares deeply about her state.

The party is paying $85,000 to air the ads in the Jacksonville and West Palm Beach areas. Reno's campaign is paying for them elsewhere.

The Democratic Party already has provided $350,000 to run a McBride ad touting his commitment to education, plus $300,000 in staff salaries and other aid. Until now, Reno had taken just a fraction of that, all of it for joint campaign and party activities.

When McBride's party-funded TV ad hit the air this month, Elleithee said Reno's campaign disagreed in principle with using party money for a single candidate. "Janet has always believed it shouldn't be spent on any one particular candidate," Elleithee told the St. Petersburg Times on Aug. 9.

State law says party-funded ads must include at least three candidates -- thus the name "three-packs" -- although two of them can be mentioned at the very end.

Monday, Elleithee said Reno believes "three-pack ads" amount to party building, not funding for a particular candidate. However, the party-funded Reno ads running in Jacksonville and Palm Beach mention the same two state House candidates, Nan Rich and Anne Gannon -- even though no one in Jacksonville could vote for either.

Rich is running in Broward County, Gannon in Delray Beach. The ads also mention the party's Web side, www.florida-democrats.org. Since July, McBride has run a half-dozen TV ads, including one paid for by the Democratic Party and two paid for by the Florida Education Association, the state teachers union.

His campaign says he is gaining against Reno. Republican Gov. Jeb Bush's campaign also has attacked McBride, not Reno.

"We anticipate that the primary race is going to get a little bit closer between now and the primary," Elleithee said. "But at this point we don't see any information that any of our primary opponents are in a position to beat us."

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