Lazio (R) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D), accepted a ban on campaign advertising supported by unrestricted contributions. Last week, the New York Senate candidates, Rep. Besides creating a loophole for big donors, the practice makes it all but impossible to identify the sources of millions flowing into a race like Virginia's from tens of millions of dollars flowing to the national parties from across the country. The proliferation of ads bought with unregulated money has itself become an issue. Both sides have focused advertising on voters in Northern Virginia who might not have settled on a candidate.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee has poured about $2.5 million into the state in five ads with the Republican Party of Virginia, roughly matching Allen. Interest groups like the Sierra Club are also buying ads in Robb's behalf without disclosing donors. Robb has spent $870,000 on television ads since the week of Sept. Joshua Rosenkranz, president of the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York School of Law, which is tracking soft money in this fall's presidential and congressional races.Īccording to interviews with both campaigns and state and national party officials, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has spent nearly $2.5 million on five ads produced with the Democratic Party of Virginia since mid-August. "The candidates are running 100 percent clean, positive ads, and they're leaving it to the political parties to dirty their hands with the negative ads," said E. "Who is the real George Allen?" the Democrats' latest ad asks, branding him "the politician who will say just about anything" and directing viewers to a Democratic Web site,. But a string of Democratic Party ads used surrogates to accuse Allen of flip-flops on a federal ban on assault weapons and education grants, both of which he now favors. Robb replied in kind last month, taking the high road with uplifting biographical spots emphasizing his military service in Vietnam and his agenda. "George Allen slashed welfare rolls 50 percent."Īllen himself has stuck with soft-focus ads showcasing his telegenic young family and defending his positions. "Robb admitted welfare reform wasn't a priority," the GOP says in its latest ad. The ads flayed the incumbent for "Robb-speak," by which they meant lies.
The Republican Party began its multimillion-dollar ad campaign unusually early, launching a round of strongly critical ads in August that focused on Robb's votes against GOP tax cuts and Social Security plans. Because ads paid for by soft money can advocate only issues, not candidates, they avoid explicit phrases such as "vote for" or "defeat." They tend to be more critical, analysts say, allowing candidates in whose behalf they are run to maintain their distance from negative campaigning.Īlready the ads have altered the tenor of Virginia's race, a crucial battleground in the fight for control of the Senate, now held by Republicans, 54 to 46.įive weeks before Election Day, the parties have spent $5 million on television ads in behalf of both candidates, sinking half of that sum into the costly Washington area market. Such gifts bypass post-Watergate-era limits barring candidates from accepting more than $2,000 from individuals and political action committees. Robb (D) and former governor George Allen (R), turning it and other contests across the country harsher in tone.
The national parties-relying as never before on advertising bought with "soft money," unregulated donations from deep-pocketed corporations, unions and individuals-have become the dominant voices in the battle between Sen. Senate on television this fall, drenching voters with millions of dollars of ads funded by unregulated contributions. For the first time in a Virginia election, the national Democratic and Republican parties are outspending their own candidates for U.S.
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