Campaigns match ads with TV shows

WASHINGTON - Watch the daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless or the late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live and you're likely to see an ad for Democrat John Kerry.

Tune into the crime reality series America's Most Wanted or catch a few innings of a Major League Baseball game and it's President Bush's face that tends to show up during the commercial breaks.

The two presidential campaigns, tapping their record-breaking accounts, have spent more than $140-million on television ads in 21 states and on national cable networks. With an eye on the swing vote, both are airing many of their spots on programs that reach viewers of any political persuasion - and placing some spots on specific shows to maximize turnout among their core supporters.

For Kerry, those are women, young voters and blacks. For Bush, they are men and older Americans.

The Associated Press analyzed the television programs on which the candidates advertised during 10 days in May. Their buying patterns are fairly typical for a presidential election expected to be close, said Evan Tracey, president of TNS/Campaign Media Analysis Group, a Virginia company that tracks political ads.

During the period reviewed, both campaigns aired the bulk of their commercials during local newscasts, national news programs or newsmagazines such as 20/20, and Sunday public affairs shows such as Meet the Press.

Seven of the 10 top programs where most Bush and Kerry ads ran were the same: the morning network news shows Today, Good Morning America and The Early Show; the highly rated talk shows Regis and Kelly and Dr. Phil; and the popular game shows Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.

Kerry's ads appeared far more often than Bush's during daytime programs watched primarily by female viewers. He ran ads on soap operas like All My Children and programs like The Ellen DeGeneres Show, as well as Democratic-leaning courtroom programs, such as Judge Judy, and late-afternoon talk shows, such as Montel Williams, which tend to be watched by blue-collar workers and the unemployed.

Bush's commercials ran often during crime reality shows like Cops, which appeal to white men, and tough-on-crime shows that tend to reach a slightly older Republican audience - prime-time dramas like Law and Order and JAG.

WASHINGTON - John Kerry has begun interviewing potential running mates, including Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri who spent about 90 minutes in the Democratic presidential candidate's Capitol office Wednesday.

Democratic officials familiar with the discussions said Kerry planned to meet with other candidates in the next several days, including Florida Sen. Bob Graham, whose book, Intelligence Matters, will go on sale Sept. 7, Random House said Wednesday.

Earlier Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio, Kerry said he would create a federal program that would pay to keep schools open until early evening to help working parents.

Kerry, visiting an after-school and summer school program center, said he would spend $1.5-billion more on after-school programs. He said he would get the money for keeping schools open until 6 p.m. from repealing President Bush's tax cuts for people earning more than $200,000 a year.

WASHINGTON - A group of 26 retired U.S. diplomats and military officers said Wednesday that President Bush should be voted out of office in November for damaging U.S. national security interests and America's standing in the international community.

The group, which calls itself Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change, did not explicitly endorse Democrat John Kerry for president in a statement outlining its views. The statement suggested Bush's policies had left the United States isolated in the world.

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