Senate race heats up with statewide television spots
In the stretch to the primary, the candidates will try to sway you with TV commercials.
By ANITA KUMAR
Published July 28, 2004
After almost five months of presidential TV ads, Florida is about to get a new onslaught from the largely overlooked candidates for U.S. Senate.
With five weeks before the Aug. 31 primary, the ads won't let up until election day.
Republican Mel Martinez began airing his first TV ads of the campaign, featuring President Bush saying nice things about his former housing secretary. The ads started in the Tampa Bay area and will spread quickly statewide.
Democrat Peter Deutsch, meanwhile, launches his new round of ads today, the first he has run statewide, touting his commitment to health care.
The candidates are airing ads the same week voters are tuned into the Democratic National Convention in Boston.
"Primary voters are political people," said Bill Colleti, a Republican political consultant not involved in the Senate race. "This is the right time. People will start paying attention."
Bill McCollum, who polls show is the Republican front-runner, began airing statewide ads last week, the same time Democratic front-runner Betty Castor aired her first ads in several North Florida markets.
In a sprawling state of newcomers, TV ads play a crucial role in any statewide campaign. But with eight Republicans and four Democrats vying for the public's attention, they could be decisive, experts say. None of the candidates now airing ads plans to stop until the primary.
The timing and amount of advertising is dictated largely by money, said Rob Schroth, a Democratic pollster with offices in Washington and Miami. "I would go up the minute I could go up and not come down." Sustaining an ad campaign is more important than getting on early, he said.
Most campaigns declined to disclose details about their ad strategies, such as where the ads are running or how much they plan to spend in the race to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Bob Graham. Some are airing biographical ads while some, like Deutsch, are focusing on issues.
Martinez waited longer than every other major candidate to launch TV ads, which raised questions in Republican circles. "I'm sure there were fistfights in that campaign as they argued when to go up," Colleti said.
The 30-second ad, which highlights Martinez's escape from communist Cuba, opens with a shot of Bush speaking in Miami two years ago. "I'm honored to be with a great American: Mel Martinez, who makes a big difference in our Cabinet," Bush says.
The announcer describes Martinez as a pro-life conservative and a defender of American values. "The American Dream is alive and well and Mel Martinez represents it all," Bush says.
"It's important to note that he has been traveling the state for six months and moving up in the polls without ads," said Jennifer Coxe, Martinez's spokeswoman. "Now we have the opportunity to make sure all Floridians hear Mel's message and become Mel's supporters."
Coral Gables businessman Doug Gallagher's self-funded Senate campaign quickly criticized Martinez for using Bush's image without permission and filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission over potential election violations.
Coxe said there was no coordination between the Martinez and Bush campaigns, the only way she said the campaign could possibly violate federal elections law. She said the Bush footage was old, and no written permission was needed under federal law.
Martinez is the fifth Republican to begin airing commercials. State House Speaker Johnnie Byrd aired four weeks of ads starting in mid May, and then shifted to less costly, more focused Christian radio.
Millionaire Karen Saull began airing ads in June. So did Gallagher, who spent $1.3-million for three weeks of statewide ads. That same commercial is running in Orlando.
McCollum, a former congressman from Orlando, began TV ads last week, first in Jacksonville and Fort Myers and then statewide. His biographical ad uses a collage of still-frame images of McCollum, described as "passionate, a fighter, a leader, a patriot" and as "the lone voice (who) warned Bill Clinton about Osama bin Laden."
Recent polls show McCollum with a slight lead over Martinez.
Castor, former state education commissioner, has a strong lead over Deutsch and Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas, polls show.
Deutsch's new ad, his third, talks of his push for universal health care, his fight to overturn Bush's ban on stem cell research and better prescription drug benefits.
Castor aired her first ads last week in Jacksonville, Tallahassee and Gainesville, cities where she is not well-known but are crucial to winning the state. She switched from a biographical ad to one about military families this week in those same markets.
Other candidates, including Penelas and Byrd, said they will be airing ads soon. Both were up early on TV and radio, but have not aired ads in weeks.
"We anticipate being up very soon across the board," said Wayne Garcia, Byrd's spokesman.