We all bitch and complain about negative ads.
Why do they keep running them then...?
Because they work.
Bush is trying to do to Kerry what Clinton did to Dole: Define him before he can define himself. Remember how Clintons ads made it look like Dole and Gingrich were joined at the hip and just waiting to pounce a radical right wing agenda on America and take away Social Security, Medicare and do all sorts of crazy things.
Rove buys time in all the right places, he puts negative ads up in states on the same days that Kerry campaigns there, often nailing him for the issue he is speaking on (the "i voted for it and against it" ad went up the day he was speaking about veterans, the gas tax ad went up the day he started talking about high gas prices). As a marketer, all in all I would say Bush's March ad campaign was masterful. (except for the first week with the 9-11 coffins thing)
Howerver it is unclear whether they are working now or not. Bush just dropped $40 million in 18 states, and Kerry's negatives only went up 1 point...as did Bush's in those states. And Kerry is now leading in many polls. In the same period Kerry spent almost nothing cause he was broke, MoveOn spent a bit but not nearly as much as Bush did.
click here for Annenburg Report on Ad EffectivenessEither the ads arent working, or real world events are trumping the ads.
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