Analyses: Ads' harm fleeting

[Nicholas_J]

Posted on Fri, Aug. 27, 2004





Analyses: Ads' harm fleeting

VET GROUPS' QUESTIONS OVER SERVICE HURT KERRY, BUT NOT FOR LONG

By James Kuhnhenn

Knight Ridder


WASHINGTON - Just days before the Republican National Convention, the race between President Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry remains a tossup amid signs that a controversy over Kerry's Vietnam service has hurt the Democrat, but not necessarily with lasting consequences.

Three polls released Thursday show that ads questioning Kerry's heroism as a Navy swift-boat officer in Vietnam have eroded some of the benefit he gained from the frequent Vietnam imagery played at the Democratic National Convention last month.

A Los Angeles Times poll of 1,352 registered voters from Aug. 21 through Tuesday shows Bush gaining the lead in the contest for the first time. Another survey -- the Battleground 2004 poll by Republican pollster Ed Goeas and Democrat Celinda Lake -- has Kerry ahead. In each case, the advantage held by either candidate is within the margin of error.

The effect of the Vietnam ads, however, isn't likely to permanently damage Kerry or prove beneficial to Bush in the long term, analysts said.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/9511025.htm

[Beetwasher]

1. Good Article

Kick

[lancdem]

2. Good!

[Doctor_J]

3. long term? what does that mean?

Considering that NOT ONE SHRED OF IT WAS TRUE, I would say that the ad was pretty damn effective. And I am sure Rove has another piano to throw next week.

[ibegurpard]

5. But just like with the terror alerts...

...every "piano" thrown will have a lesser effect.
There are two months left, the swift-boat liars are gradually being discredited and those who aren't already sympathetic to Bush will be less inclined to believe the next one.

[depakid]

4. Here's the problem-

``The time he spends talking about this stuff he's not talking about other things that swing voters care about,'' said Bill Carrick, who worked on Rep. Dick Gephardt's presidential campaign.

The media is going to use everything in their power to conceal Bush's failures and the Republicans' plans to destroy basically everthing that's good and decent about America. They've gotten way too much mileage out of this toward that very purpose. We can't afford to let them keep doing that.