Campbell’s Ads Emphasize ‘Pro-Choice’

Calling himself a “pro-choice Republican” who is frugal when it comes to federal spending, U. S. Rep. Tom Campbell unveiled his first television ads Monday in his race for the U. S. Senate.

Campbell, an economist and former law professor from the Silicon Valley, has one of the largest campaign treasuries in the Senate race and is hoping to use television spots to raise his still-lagging name recognition.

The two-week, two-ad campaign hits the airwaves this Saturday at a cost of $500,000. Campbell expects to spend at least $2 million on television advertising before the June 2 primary, said campaign manager Ron Smith.

The ads will play in Los Angeles and throughout the state, except for San Francisco, where Smith said Campbell is well known.

A member of Congress for four years, Campbell, 39, is running for the six-year term in the seat being vacated by Sen. Alan Cranston, a Democrat. Campbell’s Republican opponents are conservative television commentator Bruce Herschensohn and Palm Springs Mayor Sonny Bono.

The ads present two major themes in the Campbell campaign. He is portrayed as a supporter of abortion rights and as an expert on economic issues who holds strong, pro-business, pro-growth, GOP credentials. He is portrayed in the ads as a former head of Ronald Reagan’s Bureau of Competition and recipient of a high rating from the National Taxpayers Union.

“The way to cut the federal budget deficit is to cut federal government spending; it’s not to increase taxes,” he says, looking slightly off-camera as though he were speaking to an intimate group.

“We lower taxes, increase research and development, and unleash the power of the American worker.”

The two ads show Campbell outside the Woodside, Calif., Town Hall. In one, he is walking with a farmer in a field, examining crops; in another, he is consulting with scientists working with lasers in a laboratory. In another scene, he is walking on a campus meant to look like Stanford University (it is actually a high school across the street from the university).

The ad campaign, which was previewed to reporters in Los Angeles and Sacramento, comes as Campbell appeared to slip in opinion polls behind Herschensohn. Campbell initially had a small lead over Herschensohn in the California Poll last year, then the two were tied at 27 points until last month, when Herschensohn received 28 points to Campbell’s 25.

“I think the voters are looking for a pro-choice and pro-economic candidate,” Campbell told reporters in Sacramento.

At least one of Campbell’s opponents was quick to respond to the commercials. Ken Khachigian, who manages Herschensohn’s campaign, called the ads “grossly misleading.”

“How can this guy call himself conservative?” Khachigian said, pointing to a series of votes in which Campbell was closer to his Democratic colleagues than to the Republican right wing. “The fundamental premise of (Campbell’s) campaign is to deceive voters into thinking he’s something that he’s not.”

Khachigian said Campbell’s claim in one ad that he never voted for a tax increase is bogus because he introduced a $600-million levy on leaded gasoline. Smith said the measure never came up for a vote and was intended not as a tax but as a way to eliminate leaded gasoline.

Both ads open with Campbell declaring himself an advocate of abortion rights. In one scene, as the word “pro-choice” is uttered by an announcer, Campbell is seen standing with young, attractive women who are back-lit.

Smith conceded that emphasis on the “pro-choice” label may be risky in a Republican primary. At the same time, a sizable number of Republicans say they support abortion rights, and Campbell is clearly targeting that group--perhaps because he believes the most conservative, anti-abortion conservatives are going to vote for Herschensohn anyway.