Bush, McCain Launching Ad Blitz in State

Hello, California. The nation’s costliest political ad wars begin here today, with Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Sen. John McCain of Arizona set to blitz viewers with millions of dollars worth of TV commercials in key markets across the state.

Bush, using a one-two punch, will air one ad harshly criticizing McCain for an ad he has already pulled in South Carolina and a second seeking to position himself rather than McCain as the genuine Washington outsider.

“Politics is tough,” Bush says to the camera in the first spot. “But when John McCain compared me to Bill Clinton and said I was untrustworthy, that’s over the line. Disagree with me, fine, but do not challenge my integrity.”

Asked why he was responding in California to an ad that stopped running in South Carolina several days ago, Bush’s California chairman, Gerry Parsky, said: “Whatever is said in South Carolina resonates across the country . . . . It’s gotten coverage all over the country.”

Los Angelenos have already seen a grinning McCain in front of bright blue skies and an American flag in a 30-second biographical spot in recent days, during news shows and soap operas like “All My Children.”

That spot will air statewide starting today. In coming weeks, McCain will run ads contrasting himself to Bush on such issues as education and the environment.

On the Democratic side, former Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey is airing a spot featuring basketball star Michael Jordan endorsing him. Vice President Al Gore, eager to preserve campaign dollars, has yet to advertise here this year, focusing on “get out the vote” efforts instead.

Candidates and media experts agree that California is unlike any other market because of its sheer physical size, sky-high advertising costs, and a huge, diverse population. Add to that airwaves already crowded with ads for statewide initiatives and it makes breaking through the clutter all the more challenging.

Ads that cost $350 per gross rating point in Boston cost $1,100 here. A gross rating point is the industry standard for the number of viewers reached in a given market. Even Bush, with far more money than anyone else, could never afford to buy all the media time he wants or needs, analysts say.

Yet the candidates have no choice but to spend heavily on television ads.

“California is so vast, it’s really difficult to do Iowa- or New Hampshire-style campaigning where you press the flesh,” said Cal State Los Angeles professor Jaime Regalado, who also heads the Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs. “With 34 million people, potentially 20 million voters and a brief amount of time to reach them, you have to rely on media first and foremost--paid, free, whatever forms you can muster.”

Brown University professor Darrell West said candidates need to run ads that are “provocative, negative or entertaining” to make a mark with viewers and reporters.