Checchi Strikes First With TV Ads

Taking to the television airwaves far earlier than any gubernatorial candidate in memory, Democrat Al Checchi on Monday will begin introducing himself to voters with a host of advertisements expected to run, unabated, until the June primary.

Checchi, whose campaign is blessed with his $550-million bankroll and cursed by his political anonymity, lays out his personal and professional biography in the 60-second ad that will run first.

Among commercials expected to appear later are one detailing his proposal to expand the death penalty to serial rapists and child molesters and another in which children make fun of the pronunciation of his name. (As voters will soon see, it’s CHECK-ee.)

By the end of the year, the campaign expects to spend $3.5 million on television advertising, with untold millions in additional spending planned for 1998.

Airing in November, the ads beat by three months the previous record for a gubernatorial candidate, Dianne Feinstein’s famous 1990 ad that opened with footage of her announcing the shooting deaths of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. When that graphic and emotional ad aired in February of the election year, many in the political community were astonished by the early timing.

Not so with Checchi’s timing, given the vast sums he can throw at the race and the fact that recent polls have found that almost no one in the state can place his name.

“Nobody knows who Al Checchi is,” acknowledged Checchi strategist Darry Sragow. “We have to first acquaint them.”

Checchi’s decision means that California’s political airwaves are dominated, a full year before the general election, by missives from multimillionaire political unknowns.

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Car-alarm magnate Darrell Issa is saturating radio stations with ads touting his campaign for the U.S. Senate. Both men have the same political problem--how to vault, in their first races, over politicians who have spent decades climbing the electoral ladder.

Until recently, the 49-year-old Checchi served as co-chairman of Northwest Airlines, in which he owns a 10% stake. His experiences there form the bulk of the story that he wants to tell voters.

Although the ad opens with a well-dressed Checchi walking down a runway full of planes, the first business venture it mentions is his prior job helping the Disney Co. fight off a hostile takeover attempt by what the ad calls “corporate raiders.” Then Northwest is mentioned.

Checchi has been accused of corporate raiding in the buyout of Northwest Airlines, most recently by the campaign of Lt. Gov. Gray Davis, the only other announced Democratic candidate for governor.

Through his campaign strategist Garry South, Davis has argued that Northwest was doing well financially until plunged into debt by the Checchi-led takeover. “I really don’t think he’s got a hell of a lot to sell,” said South, referring to the Northwest story.

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Checchi campaign officials said the timing of the ads was not affected by the Davis campaign’s recent criticism. Nor, they said, is it an attempt to boost Checchi’s poll numbers, although the campaign certainly hopes for some return on its investment.

“The campaign is not trying to get some huge bounce; that’s not going to happen,” said Sragow. “Al is unknown in California, and this is a long-term process.”

The first ad--which will air everywhere in the state except San Diego, where ad rates are prohibitive--is a classic “biographical” ad, down to the opening sepia shot of a young Checchi standing behind his third birthday cake.

It gives him credit for the “revival” of three corporations--Northwest, Disney and Marriott, where he began his career--and touts “bold new ideas” like a 10% cut in state bureaucracy, expanded educational programs and zero tolerance for domestic violence.

And it ends with a film shot that has been stock for California politicians since Richard Nixon strode the sands of San Clemente in his wingtips--candidate Checchi, casually clad, laughingly walking the beach with arms around his wife and three children.

Davis’ campaign officials said they would have to gauge the impact of the ads before deciding whether to air their own commercials. The prospect of retaliation by television seems unlikely, however, because the Davis campaign has less than $4 million in the bank and would like to husband that money until closer to the June primary. South said, hopefully, that Checchi may discover a downside to early advertising.

“Going on now through June, you’re risking wearing out your welcome with voters,” he said. “People get tired of seeing your mug. They probably have to do it, but it does carry some risks.”

Checchi strategist Sragow disagreed. “We have no evidence that people are going to get tired of Al Checchi,” he said.

Two other California Democrats, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and state Sen. John Vasconcellos, are considering a run for governor. Neither, however, has enough money at present to compete on the airwaves.