Kerrey, Bush Unveil New Commercials : Campaign: Senator draws fire from rivals who call his national health insurance ad misleading. President emphasizes his State of the Union speech.

Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey unveiled two more ads in his Democratic presidential campaign Thursday, drawing fire from rivals who branded one spot as misleading and demanded that it be pulled off the air.

President Bush also launched his campaign’s second television commercial, which showed him in the Oval Office emphasizing his State of the Union speech.

In the controversial Kerrey ad, the candidate sits at a kitchen table talking with voters about health care. “The other candidates in this race have figured out that national health insurance is popular, so they’re talking as if they support it--but they don’t,” he says.

“My proposal is national health insurance and it solves every significant problem that people are having. No more fear that if you lose your job you lose your health care. . . . I hope the people of New Hampshire in this campaign will not accept a counterfeit proposal but accept only the real thing--national health insurance.”

The commercial drew quick criticism. “The ad is misleading to the voters of New Hampshire and should be taken off the air,” former Massachussetts Sen. Paul E. Tsongas said while campaigning in Maryland. Tsongas took issue in particular with the assertion that only Kerrey’s plan would protect every American.

Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton’s campaign was hesitant to enter the fray. But the deputy campaign manager, George Stephanopoulos, said: “Tsongas is right; Kerrey is wrong.”

It is true that Kerrey is the only candidate with a specific bill in the Senate advocating a government-run national health system. Under the plan, the government would cover every American. It would set the fees to be paid to doctors and hospitals, and would put a yearly ceiling on health spending.

But former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr.’s aides pointed out that Brown advocates a comprehensive health care system for all Americans too. Brown’s plan, although less specific than Kerrey’s, is also based on Canada’s system.

Nor does Kerrey’s ad acknowledge that his proposal has won little support in the Senate. Critics say, among other things, that it would be too expensive.

Tsongas advocates a “managed” system under which insurance companies and the government would pressure doctors and hospitals to eliminate waste and become more efficient.

Clinton has advocated a plan that would require all companies to offer health insurance to workers or pay a higher tax that would go into a special fund to cover the uninsured.

Kerrey’s press secretary, Steve Jarding, acknowledged that other Democratic candidates do support national health care plans. But that is different, he argued, from national health care insurance, which is paid for by the government and covers people whether they are employed or not.

The second Kerrey ad reinforces his message about trade barriers in Japan.

Bush’s new commercial marks a change in tactics from his first effort, which began last week. In the ad, the President speaks into a camera that slowly pans the Oval Office.

“New Hampshire and our nation have been through tough times,” he says. “And I’ve given Congress a deadline of March 20 to pass my plan for economic growth.” Faint strains of vaguely patriotic music can be heard in the background.

“It will cut taxes for families, encourage investment so businesses can create new jobs, and restore the value of homes and real estate. . . . I need your help now to send a message to Congress to get this job done,” Bush says in the ad, produced by Alex Castellanos, Mike Murphy and Don Sipple.

The new advertisement marks a shift away from the first ad--which showed the President under fire from angry New Hampshirites. The change represents an attempt to convince voters that their problems are the fault of Congress, not Bush. In urging voters to “send a message” to Congress, one official said, the campaign is hoping disenchanted Republicans will vent their anger now rather than vote for conservative columnist Patrick J. Buchanan as a protest in the Feb. 18 primary.

“As long as the economy is in trouble, voters are going to stay mad,” one campaign official said earlier this week. “Our job is to make sure they blame a Democratic Congress too.”