Kerry Plans TV Blackout In August - AP\MSNBC

Democrat must make federal funds last till Nov. 2

<snip>

BOSTON - John Kerry prepared Thursday for an August television ad blackout aimed at hoarding as much of his $75 million in post-convention government funding as possible through the extra month President Bush has to spend private campaign donations.

Bush’s financial advantage comes from the timing of the two parties’ nominating conventions. The GOP convention falls about a month after the Democratic gathering, meaning Bush will have to make his $75 million general-election government check last one month less than Kerry must.

The Federal Election Commission is expected to wire $75 million in taxpayer funding to Kerry’s campaign Friday. At that point, Kerry must cover all new campaigning costs through Nov. 2 with the government funds.

The Bush campaign has said repeatedly that Bush, too, plans to accept full government financing for the race after he is nominated in New York City on Sept. 2. “We take them at their word,” Kerry spokesman Michael Meehan said.

<snip>

Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5550233/

We take them at their WORD???

:wtf:

Hope they point out the LIES the Shrub has told.

The 527s are going to have to carry the fight in August. Be sure to tell your friends to donate, especially those that are not online.

If Sen. Kerry really does the blackout (so far, he's had an ad on every half hour TV show I've seen here in WA state), it will demonstrate the effectiveness of TV advertising. If his poll numbers slip during that time, he can still recover, but the Republican convention will take place after the August Olympic coverage. It makes it a dicey proposition to 'disappear', only to have about a month and a half to pull out of a polling nosedive.

Glad to have you aboard. Remember: Hope is on the way. Help is on the way. And most importantly--

Bush Must Go!!!

I've been a lurker for a goodly number of months, but lately my mouse-clicking finger has been itching for something only my keyboard could provide a good scratching for!

We're guaranteed an interesting fall, that's good news. When Dean started losing, I was afraid that the campaign would lose a lot of punch in the homestretch, guess I was wrong.

He knows what he's doing. In Kerry, we have the best possible chance in the world to turn this ship around.

For several reasons, but I think it might be a good one...We'll see I guess...

I hope the independent orgs. like MoveOn etc. can pick up some slack, I expect they will, that would help a great deal.

If Bush ends up spurning the public financing, it could be a big issue for Kerry...

he was great president. We have the bounce. And we will be there for the finish line....

and with kerry traveling and other events....we can bring free advertising....

Kerry is going to have quite a chunk of money that he can roll over to DNC.

The McCain-Feingold act prohibits soft money ads at the 30 day mark.

By that time Kerry would be able to spend his government money and would be on an even Keel with SmirkBoy.

This might actually work out better than we think it will. My only worry is "will Smirky keep his promise to take the $75 mil like Kerry did?" Judging from his track record RE: keeping promises, it don't look good...

Y'konw what I think? I think there should be a law: you either take the $75 mil and spend ONLY THAT between when you're nominated and the election, or you're only allowed to spend up to $100 mil of your "own" money. That way, the only possible advantage a candidate would have is time management, which can be controlled by the campaigns.

Kerry NEEDS to keep the message out there ... HIS message ...

The DNC should promote the Party philosophy, and defend Liberalism for once ....

The 527's should REVEAL the idiot liar prince in all his putrid monstrousity, and let the WHOLE WORLD know what a fraud he and his party are ....

Kerry REALLY cannot survive one month's silence in the media ....

If the 527's do their job, Kerry's message will get out.

This is really an opportunity for Kerry to "win on the issues." Here's how:

• Kerry basically said he wanted to run a positive campaign -- without the name-calling and personal attacks.
  Kerry's planning an ad blackout DIRECTLY FROM HIS OWN CAMPAIGN in August.


• The 527's don't have to follow the same fund-raising/spending rules the actual campaigns do; and absolutely CAN run ads in August (and should).


• The only real restriction the 527's have when it comes to running ads is that they can't mention any candidates by name. Fine. They can specifically mention the issues while the Bushies are fighting the urge to call names and attack Kerry personally (and losing).


• The voters see this and think "damn, the Bushies can't seem to do anything but attack. You'd think someone who was about right would simply run on his own record. Maybe there isn't much of record to run on after all...?"


• September begins, and Kerry's self-imposed blackout ends. Now HE can run ads musing to voters: "gee, the Bushies can't seem to do anything but attack. You'd think someone who was about right would simply run on his own record. Maybe there isn't much of record to run on after all...?" Then tell them about the Kerry plan.


• November 2 arrives, and Kerry earns upwards of 325 electoral votes -- much to the utter surprise of the Bushies. Remember that stunned look George H. W. Bush had on his face while conceeding the '92 election to Bill Clinton (after dismissing him as some out-of-the-mainstream upstart who simply didn't have enough experience to be President)? It will look even funnier on Dubya's face on November 3. But then Dubya's funny lookin' anyway... :evilgrin:

So relax, guys... You just might find this "dilemma" is really much ado about nothing....

the DNC and the 527s will fill in the slack. Their ads are basically Kerry ads without the "I'm John Kerry and I approve of this message." These ads will be hard hitting and I think they'll fill in the silence from the Kerry camp well. This plan likely has something to do with "evening the playing field" with the Bush folks considering that they have way more time to fundraise.

If the Kerry campaign has to conserve in August, let's take up the slack.

Print out some flyers and distribute them in your neighborhood.

Get your bumperstickers on and your lawn signs and window signs up.

Call a radio show, write a letter to the editor.

Gather a view friends and pick a busy corner. Get out there during rush hour and let the passersby know that a change is coming!

This isn't Kerry's campaign, it's OURS. When he has to step back, it's time for US to step up.

Each of us doing our part will definitely help out.

Write letter to your local newspapers!

Stickers on your cars!!

"Guerilla' advertise: leave fliers, talking points in restaurants, restrooms subways, busses. Everywhere.

not really LBN

The Associated Press
Updated: 3:16 p.m. ET July 29, 2004

First I've seen it!

:shrug:

...NOT taking the funds because they can spend their own money then....that the rules applied only if they accepted the funds.

Kerry and Edwards need to fill this period with free media appearances.

This is the time to do Letterman, to get on all the morning talking heads shows, to give interviews to MTV, local news anchors, etc.

Hopefully, they will be creative in their thinking. One of the great things Clinton did in 92 was to find fresh ways to get his face and his voice on TV. It doesn't seem like such a big deal if a candidate goes on a late night show on, but when he did the Arsenio Hall Show, it was a HUGE deal.

August. Wishful thinking but a girl can dream can't she?

DNC can run ads as mentioned before, as can the 527's, but I think for once that the 527's should switch gears in August and run something positive about Kerry instead of attacking Bush...it would help keep the momentum from the convention going.

I think he doesnt have much of a choice, he needs to be able to go dollar for dollar with Bush after the RNC, he knows this could go down to the wire and he can't afford to end up broke while Bush has 20 million left in the bank with a week to go.

With the Olympics coming up, politics was going to take a backseat somewhat anyways, so it might well be money wasted...I think the DNC and 527s really need to focus on the area RIGHT after the convention and sandwiched around the Olympics.

The DNC needs to be creative in how it responds to the RNCon the way the RNC has with the DNCon.

Finally, Kerry does need to get out to the talk shows, MTC, the morning shows, subject himself to a hostile target on occassion on say HArdball or one of the Sunday morning shows like Stehenopolous (sp?). He needs to get on TV and in the papers almost daily with his message.

If he does that, then not having commercials will be minimized. He has no more fundraising to do, so there is no excuse...park his butt and Edwards and the spouses collective rears in two areas:

1. the battleground states
2. TV/Media

Kerry needs to anticipate the news now, reacting even before Bush does where possible.

show support for a specific candidate.

say that Kerry is a good guy without metioning his campaign for president.

Of course they can all be Kerry's issues that they support, but I don't think they can mention Kerry at all. They can say, " call President Bush and tell him you do not want a Constitutional amendment etc "

in ads during August. The plan is to raise this during the next few weeks and then run the ads. I read that in an article posted a day or two ago.

and do an imitation of Jon Stewart's imitation of him.

Everyone should relax a little. As evident from the convention, the people running this campaign seem to really have their shit together this time. They're not going to let the chimp off the hook.

From an Arianna Huffington article.
Anger, and the wisdom of keeping it in check, were the subject of a pair of competing briefings I attended on Monday afternoon at the Four Seasons hotel, which is the hub of behind-the-scenes campaign activity away from the Fleet Center. One featured Harold Ickes of America Coming Together, which has now raised $80 million, a substantial chunk of which will be spent in August taking the whip to Bush's hide.

http://www.alternet.org/election04/19384/

they link Kerry directly to issues in New Mexico...

They are pretty amazing if they are doing this in the key states...

ACT is coordinating with a large number of progressive groups, including the unions, environmental groups, women's groups, etc. They are dividing up the battleground states district by district, street by street, even house by house.

If you are on the Sierra Club list, you get the mailing for environmentalists. If you are union family, you get the labor-oriented mailing. If you belong to NOW, you get the reproductive rights mailing. You will not get bombarded with 10 mailings from all of the above. You will get a concise message that addresses the issues you care about.

ACT has been given access to the Democratic Party's nationwide donor database, has analyzed it, and is using it to target their GOTV efforts. They are doing this for federal and state races.

It is very very organized. They started over a year ago.

A friend of mine said he sent $500 to Kerry last week. What happens if that has not been spent before he accepted the nomination?

thanks
s_m

can spend it on Kerry.

I'm sure the Kerry campaign contracted to run a barrage of ads (I sure saw them on my TV) during the convention, and any funds remaining would settle up old accounts payable that went on the books before 12:01 am today. When you run something as fast paced as a national campaign, there are always little bills left over here and there, that's a campaign staff's last duty, to chase them down and pay them.

Thats tons of free publicity plus guys like Moore are working hard to push Kerry out to the public. I think a Leonardo DiCaprio endorsement is just as effective as a Bush negative ad/lie.

:kick:

the DNC and moveon (as well as some other 527s) will be using this time to air their ads! I think this is a great plan b/c their ads will be "attack ads". It has been said that the Kerry campaign doesn't intend to do much negative stuff so I can't wait to see the DNC and moveon ads.

Is this the first year liberals have outside groups running ads? I know conservatives have been doing it for years...

I'm not too concerned. 527's can pull out huge cannons and blast away at Bush, and Kerry doesn't have to go negative - which is all Bush seems capable of doing. Kinda takes the sting away from their outside groups if the campaign itself is slinging mud. Last time the Bush campaign could act all compassionate and whatnot. This time they don't have even that going for them.

Doesn't that eliminate five weeks of time to collect contributions?