Spot check

By SHELBY OPPEL

© St. Petersburg Times, published September 27, 2000

Editor's note: To help voters evaluate political ads, Times reporters will review and analyze content.

OFFICE: U.S. Senate

CANDIDATES: Florida Insurance Commissioner Bill Nelson, Democrat; U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum of Longwood, Republican

AD SPONSOR: Florida Democratic Party

PRODUCER: Squier Knapp Dunn, Washington, D.C.

RUNS: Tampa Bay, Orlando, Miami

THE AD: At the beginning of the 30-second ad, a photo of an unsmiling McCollum appears on a black screen accompanied by ominous-sounding music. "Which Florida congressman voted to cut Medicare eight times?" asks an unseen narrator. "Congressman Bill McCollum."

The unsmiling McCollum multiplies into eight identical photos that fill the screen, with pounding drums to punctuate their arrival. "Not once, not twice . . . but eight times," the announcer intones.

An agonized elderly man struggles with a pill bottle; a dejected elderly woman stares out a window; an elderly couple worriedly read a newspaper.

"Cuts of billions that would harm Florida's seniors. Now, Bill McCollum claims to support a prescription drug plan for seniors, but his plan leaves middle class seniors with no guaranteed drug benefit. None.

"No wonder the Council of Senior Citizens calls the McCollum plan "a fraud' on seniors . . . "destructive to Medicare.' McCollum votes against our families. Check it out for yourself."

The ad provides a Web address, http://www.moreaboutmccollum.com, where the Democratic Party has posted what it says is documentation of McCollum's Medicare votes.

ANALYSIS: This was the first shot fired in the Senate candidates' television fight for elderly voters. The Democratic Party insists that McCollum voted eight times during his 20 years in Congress to "cut" Medicare, but McCollum says he was simply voting for smaller increases than President Clinton proposed during those years.

Yet, with more elderly Americans becoming eligible for Medicare each year, smaller funding increases are tantamount to cuts, the Democrats argue.

The attack on McCollum's plan for providing prescription drug coverage is a staple of Nelson's campaign, even though this ad was paid for not by the candidate but by the Democratic Party. McCollum supports the plan backed by the Republican-controlled Congress, which would enlist private insurance companies to compete to offer the coverage. By relying on insurers to take care of seniors' drug needs, McCollum is leaving their health to chance, the ad suggests.

Like Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore, Nelson supports adding the drug benefit to traditional Medicare, which is administered by the federal government. McCollum has said that seniors don't want such a "one-size-fits-all" approach.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright