Political war of words reaches TV screens

MANCHESTER, N. H. -- They were only two words -- "my opponents" -- but they were enough last week to touch off a series of recriminations, and possibly the first ad war, within the Democratic presidential campaign.

Howard Dean, the front-runner for the party's nomination, surprised his rivals by launching two television commercials in Iowa and New Hampshire in which the former Vermont governor chastised "my opponents" for criticizing his Medicare record, and for mimicking him by criticizing the Iraqi war, even though they supported it in Congress.

"I think he said, before they whack me -- which he knows they're going to do -- he's going to get out his message on Medicare and the war," said Patrick Griffin, a GOP political activist who heads a Manchester public relations firm that produces political ads. "I think it's an annuity. He's buying himself protection against attacks he knows are going to come."

Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts bolstered the speculation by summoning his ad team to Iowa, where he was campaigning when the Dean ads were released, to discuss making a commercial in response to the Iraq spot. His campaign manager, Jim Jordan, said, "Nothing's immediately planned." But Jordan also said a Kerry ad could begin running as early as Tuesday in New Hampshire, according to one person close to advertising decision-making.

Representative Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio took a different tack, sending local television stations a letter asking that they stop airing the Iraq ad, or that they give him free air time to rebut it. Kucinich said that the commercial, which is running primarily on Manchester's WMUR-TV, the state's largest station, impugns his reputation by suggesting he supported the Iraqi war. Kucinich is the only Democratic candidate who voted against a congressional resolution authorizing it.

WMUR denied his request, saying federal law banned it from altering campaign commercials approved and paid for by presidential candidates.

Meanwhile, aides to Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri issued a statement in which they rebutted Dean's Medicare commercial. Privately, they took quiet satisfaction in Dean's ad campaign -- his largest ad expenditure to date in New Hampshire -- saying it indicated their questioning of Dean's support for Medicare in recent debates was cutting into his support. A recent poll in Iowa found that Gephardt was moving ahead of Dean.

"None of the campaigns has made its Medicare case via paid media," a Gephardt aide said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "If Dean is using paid media to respond, it means we must be gaining traction."

Meanwhile, rival campaigns and political sources have puzzled over the candidates' advertising strategy in New Hampshire. The state's Jan. 27 primary takes place eight days after the Iowa caucuses, the first contest that results in the award of convention delegates.

Based on past campaigns, executives at WMUR had expected the candidates to go on the air for good, beginning in August. Dean met that expectation on Aug. 6, when he launched the first presidential ads of the year on the station. A day later, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina followed suit, beginning his own run of television commercials.

Yet Dean went off the air immediately after Labor Day, and he stayed off until last week. He returned with a $60,000 buy for 91 commercials over a six-day span, most of them the Iraq ad.

The Kerry and Gephardt campaigns began advertising Labor Day week, but went off the air at the beginning of this month. All told, Kerry spent $183,000 on 209 commercials, while Gephardt spent $204,000 on 367 commercials, according to station records.

Edwards has remained on the air, becoming the top spender at the station. As of yesterday, he had spent $535,000 for 828 ads at WMUR -- almost twice that spent by Dean, the next-closest candidate. Next week, he plans another $36,000 buy that will push his total spending to $571,000, the records show.

Jennifer Palmieri, the senator's spokeswoman, said Edwards's ad spending is part of a strategy that includes 100 town hall meetings this fall. Erik Smith, Gephardt's spokesman, said the congressman is staying off the air by design.

Kerry, meanwhile, is holding off heavy television advertising in the state. Instead, he is concentrating his early ad buys in the Boston market, which penetrates the state's vote-rich southern tier, but where only 17 percent of the commercial costs count against the New Hampshire spending cap.

All told, Kerry has already spent $504,000 at Boston stations, the most of any of the candidates.

The five remaining candidates for the nomination, including Kucinich, retired Army General Wesley K. Clark of Arkansas, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, former Senator Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois, and Al Sharpton of New York, have yet to buy any ads at WMUR.

Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com.