Little-Known GOP Hopeful Starts Ad Blitz for Boxer Seat

So you want to be a U.S. senator, but nobody knows your name. You do, however, have a few surplus millions burning a hole in your pocket, so what do you do? Republican Darrell Issa’s answer is ads, lots of them.

Tuesday, in an extraordinarily early start to the political advertising season, Issa’s Senate campaign began running radio commercials in Fresno and Sacramento. By mid-August, they will be running statewide, at a cost of $2 million by year’s end, Issa aides say.

Even if it is early, the decision to run the ads is what you might expect from a little-known candidate with a fat wallet.

The ads open with a sharp shot at incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer, declaring her “one of the worst senators in California history,” and then go on to introduce Issa, a Vista car alarm multimillionaire.

Boxer’s aides were, at least publicly, not impressed.

“Across the state, millions of Californians are groaning, ‘Oh, no, not another Michael Huffington,’ ” said Boxer spokesman Roy Behr, alluding to the oil multimillionaire who lost a 1994 Senate race to Democrat Dianne Feinstein.

Well, there is one difference--Issa seems to be richer. However, like Huffington was when he began his quest to unseat Feinstein, Issa opened his race unknown outside rarefied Republican circles. And now he is trying to make the transition from well-heeled donor to well-known candidate.

Issa spokesman Matthew Cunningham said the conservative candidate’s car alarm company, which Issa and his wife own outright without debt, is worth about $250 million. Which makes a $30-million Senate race look mighty affordable.

“Darrell is capable of spending what it takes to win and he is willing to do it,” Cunningham said.

The early ads were testament to Issa’s intention to spend money. But they took an unusual approach.

Typically, early advertisements from little-known candidates serve to introduce them in mom-and-apple-pie fashion, threading the upcoming race with a brief biography of the candidate. Issa’s initial advertisement stood out for its over-the-bow blast at Boxer.

“I’m Darrell Issa and I’m running for the United States Senate for one reason,” the ad opened. “Barbara Boxer is one of the worst senators in California history.”

Issa decried the “harm that an ever-expanding federal government does to people--it means less take-home pay for working families and more red tape for small business.

“Boxer’s votes have given us higher taxes and bigger government.”

Issa makes little in the way of grand proposals, relying instead on political bromides--to wit: “I don’t want to tinker with government. I want to fundamentally change the relationship between government and the individual.”

While that line could have been delivered by politicians on all sides of the partisan divide, from President Clinton down, Issa added that he also believes that Republican leaders have not done enough to limit the reach of government.

He did not mention either of the announced Republican candidates for the Senate nomination, state Treasurer Matt Fong and San Diego Mayor Susan Golding. Aides said he intends to keep his aim on Boxer, but his options are open.

“We’re going to address what Darrell believes and Barbara Boxer believes,” said Cunningham. “This is about starting a dialogue between Darrell Issa and the voters, and that’s the job now. Most voters don’t know who Darrell Issa is.”

Boxer’s spokesman Behr suggested that Issa’s commercials could backfire, given their nature. But he acknowledged that, as Huffington proved, wealthy candidates can do damage to incumbents. Feinstein was the state’s most popular politician before the 1994 race, and her image took a huge beating even though she managed to win sparingly.

“Huffington did show that if you have enough money you can do some damage, even if you have nothing to say,” said Behr. “But there is likely to be a backlash against a candidate who, 16 months out from the election, starts negative campaign ads.”

Cunningham said the ads were not negative, but merely highlighted the candidates’ differences.

About a half-dozen radio ads will run on different topics by the end of the year, Issa’s campaign said, running in all areas of the state except the Central Coast and the Bay Area, which are more liberal than the rest of California and hence not likely to be as receptive to Issa.

Television ads are expected to follow at the beginning of 1998 or earlier, aides said.