POLITICS : Clinton Camp Sows Televised Seeds of Support in Key Regions : Democrats are conducting ad blitzkriegs in swing states. They hope to build early support for the ticket.

The voting may still be almost six months away, but in places like Fresno or Raleigh, N.C., or Orlando, Fla., television viewers could be excused for thinking the presidential campaign is in full swing--mostly in one direction.

In key areas of states that are traditionally closely fought in presidential contests, President Clinton and the Democrats have loaded the airwaves with ads about why Clinton deserves to remain in the White House for another four years. Republicans, lacking the money to match the Democratic assault, have responded in a limited, scattershot fashion--buying relatively small amounts of time on CNN, for example.

In the wake of presumptive GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole’s announcement that he would resign his Senate seat, Republican National Committee Chairman Haley Barbour announced plans for a larger advertising campaign. In fact, however, Republican officials privately said Barbour’s announcement was really a re-announcement of previous plans and that, for now, the GOP will not be able to directly match Clinton’s advertising.

Republicans scoff at the impact of Democratic ads, saying they are far too early in the year to matter.

“The Democrats think the election is July 2, and they’re going to win it,” said Mike Murphy, the chief strategist for Lamar Alexander’s failed GOP presidential bid and now an advisor to the Republican National Committee. “Well, they’re right--Clinton would win an election July 2. We want to win the one in November.”

Democratic strategists counter that they hope to create a solid base of support for Clinton not only before the fall election campaign, but before the Summer Olympics in July, when politics will be about as popular as mowing the lawn. The strategists believe that if Clinton can maintain a large lead over Dole in the polls before the two political parties gather for their August conventions, the Republican candidate will be unable to catch up.

“What [the Democrats] are trying to do now is lay out an environment that will deprive the Republicans of a lot of traditional issues,” said Robert Shrum, a Democratic campaign advisor who is not directly involved in the Clinton campaign.

The pro-Clinton barrage is apt to get even heavier in the next few months. Most of the advertising money so far has come from the Democratic National Committee--about $25 million for spots that advocate not only Clinton, but party candidates in general. Another $15 million in pro-Clinton advertising comes from unions and other groups supportive of the Democratic agenda.

Clinton himself has an additional $20 million that he raised for the primaries and has not yet spent because he went without serious challenge for the nomination. His aides say they expect to spend about half that amount on advertising between now and August.

Even with that much to spend, however, Democratic strategists have chosen to carefully target their money--playing a game much like chess or, in some cases, back-room poker. There are feints and counter-feints--money spent to win votes and money spent to make the other side spend money.

“The trick is that you don’t spend money in states where you can’t lose and in states where you can’t win,” said Mark Siegel, a Democratic consultant and professor of political management at George Washington University in the nation’s capital.

While Democratic officials have consistently refused to talk about where they are spending their advertising money, Republicans and news organizations have been tracking the Democratic advertising buys, providing a picture of where the money has been concentrated.

According to tracking done for CNN, Clinton has put his money in 24 states. The campaign has avoided states that he won by large margins in 1992 and where his strategists believe that he is well ahead now. These include New York, Massachusetts, West Virginia and Vermont. They have also largely stayed away from places where they believe that Clinton has no real chance--Texas, the tier of states in the Great Plains north of Texas to North Dakota, and such southern Republican strongholds as South Carolina, Alabama and Virginia.

Instead, the Democrats are seeding the ground for a November harvest in such Midwestern states as Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota and Iowa; Rocky Mountain states, including New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming; and sections of the Northwest, including Washington state.

They are also promoting their message in some areas that in recent years have been solid GOP territory--hoping to force Dole to spend precious resources defending his own turf.

One such target is Florida. President Bush won the state in 1992, but Clinton strategists believe that he has a chance of beating Dole there this year because of opposition among its millions of retiree voters to Republican attempts to change the Medicare program.

The Clinton camp also has its eyes on North Carolina, which he barely lost in 1992. Clinton may have been hurt there by taking on the tobacco industry--a recent statewide poll showed Dole leading him, 48% to 42%, even though the president has been enjoying double-digit leads nationally. But the Democrats have been advertising heavily in parts of the state.

“We’ve been watching the [Clinton] ads, and we don’t know what they’re doing here,” said William Peaslee, acting executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party. “Frankly, I think they’re wasting their money. But that’s OK with me.”

Democratic analysts say, however, that Clinton has a double purpose. Not only would he like to improve his own standing in North Carolina, he also is hoping to improve the overall climate for Democrats, with an eye toward helping former Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt defeat Republican stalwart Sen. Jesse Helms in the fall.

In California, as in several other states, Clinton is staying off the air in large urban areas where he is well ahead and where advertising time is particularly expensive. Instead, the Democratic National Committee is pouring ad money into the areas of the state that went for Bush in 1992, particularly in the central San Joaquin Valley.

Jeff Anderson, national sales manager at Fresno’s KJEO, said the Democrats have been spending about $3,000 to $5,000 a week on pro-Clinton ads at that one TV station.

“It’s not like they’re in total campaign mode yet,” Anderson said, “but they are fertilizing the soil.”

The typical Clinton pitch is featured in an ad called “Finish”--as in “finish the job” by electing the president to a second term. The 30-second spot, released earlier this month, begins by listing areas in which Democrats say the Republicans would cut spending--the Head Start program, student loans, toxic-waste cleanup, extra police officers and anti-drug efforts.

The ad then shifts from soft color to black and white shots of Dole and House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.). The two Republicans, looking somber and slightly rumpled, are twice referred to as if they are one person named “DoleGingrich”--an obvious effort to link Dole to the less popular speaker.

“DoleGingrich” are charged with fostering “deadlock,” “gridlock,” and “shutdowns” of the government. The president is touted for his efforts to balance the federal budget, reform welfare, cut taxes and protect Medicare. The ad ends with a family walking and holding hands as the announcer adds that Clinton will “protect our values.”

An updated version of this ad was released Tuesday, noting Dole’s resignation decision but also continuing to link him to the less-popular Gingrich. “Then Dole resigns,” the announcer intones. “Leaving behind gridlock he and Gingrich created.”

Republicans protest that the advertisements are disingenuous--insisting, for example, that their proposals would not have cut programs like Head Start, but merely slowed the rate of growth in their spending.

“No one has run this much early negative advertising--ever,” said Stuart Stevens, who created Dole’s advertising during this year’s presidential primaries and is part of a team working on post-primary ads. “It just shows how defensive they are about Clinton’s record.”

Times staff writer Mark Arax contributed to this story.

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The ‘Stealth’ Campaign

For months, Democrats have been spending millions of dollars on ads touting President Clinton’s reelection in various carefully selected markets. In what is called a ‘stealth’ campaign by some, the party has mostly avoided buying ads in big cities where airtime is costly and voters tend to lean Democratic anyway. The Democratic strategists are hoping to firm up support for their ticket early. Here is a look at some of their targets:

CALIFORNIA: This is a must-win state for Clinton, and although he is ahead in polls, the Democrats are concentrating their ads in areas like the Central Valley where Republicans ususally do well.

THE ROCKIES: Democratic ads sighted in Colorado and New Mexico, which went for Clinton in 1992, but also in Arizona, which has not backed a Democrat for president since Harry S. Truman in 1948.

THE MIDWEST: In a close election, the upper Midwest states could be crucial; Democrats advertising heavily in most. Indiana still considered safe for Republicans.

FLORIDA: Should be part of the Republican base, but Democrats see the efforts by the GOP Congress to slow the growth of Medicare and Medicaid as an issue that could swing retirees. Many ads have aired in Orlando market.

NORTH CAROLINA: Clinton barely lost in 1992 and is unwilling to cede it to the GOP this year. Democratic ads have received extensive airplay in Raleigh, Charlotte and Greensboro.