Kerry bids to get message across with $25m ad campaign

DEMOCRATIC Presidential hopeful John Kerry yesterday launched a $25 million advertising campaign as he struggles to capitalise on falling approval for President George W Bush’s war in Iraq.

Jittery Democrats are increasingly worried that a public perception of Mr Kerry as cold and aloof is preventing him from overtaking Mr Bush in the polls despite the President’s mounting difficulties in the war-torn country.

The new ad campaign, one of the biggest ever undertaken, seeks to promote Mr Kerry’s Vietnam War experience and his political career as “a lifetime of service and strength”. One of two new 60-second ads, Heart, features two Vietnam veterans as well as wife Teresa Heinz Kerry and daughter Vanessa Kerry and presents Kerry’s background as a county prosecutor and US senator. The other ad, Lifetime, focuses on the Navy service in Vietnam.

“If you look at my father's time in service to this country, whether it's as a veteran, prosecutor or senator, he has shown an ability to fight for things that matter,” Vanessa says in Heart. Teresa Heinz Kerry adds, “John is the face of someone who's hopeful, who’s generous of spirit and of heart.”

Del Sandusky of Elgin, Illinois, served under Mr Kerry on a patrol boat in 1969. In Lifetime, Sandusky says: “The decisions that he made saved our lives.”

Mr Kerry won the Bronze Star for saving the other veteran in the ads, Jim Rassmann of Oregon, during combat.

The Massachusetts senator is spending significantly more money to run ads in May than the $17m he put into commercials in the two months since gaining a lock on the Democratic nomination. Mr Kerry is also spending about $2.5m on two 30-second spots this week that outline his priorities and plan for Iraq.

In all, Mr Bush’s campaign has poured more than $60m into TV and radio ads since early March.

Mr Kerry is able to spend so much on ads now because the money has flowed in since he emerged from the primary season nearly broke. He has raised more than $105m so far in his White House bid.

Mr Bush still has a cash advantage, having raised more than $185m since launching his re-election effort a year ago. However, he already has spent about one-third of what he has raised.