Republican National Committee
 

"Soc. Sec. LeaderMD"
60 sec. TV spot run in 17 states (FL, GA, IL, IA, KY, LA, MD, MI, MO, NM, OH, OR, PA, WA, WI and AK and ME) starting June 12, 2000.  RNC chairman Jim Nicholson put the buy at "a little over a couple of million" and said the ad will run 7-10 days.
 

National Media
 

More Ads

 Male Announcer: With our nation at peace ... and more prosperous than ever ... Now is the time to find real solutions to America's problems.

SFX: music, boom, boom, boom...

Male Announcer: George Bush knows that to keep our commitment to seniors ... we must strengthen and improve Social Security now ... or the retirement of the Baby Boom Generation will push it near bankruptcy.  He's proposing a bipartisan plan to strengthen and improve Social Security.

The Bush Plan guarantees everyone at or near retirement every dollar of their benefits.  No cuts in Social Security.  You paid into it's your money and it will be there for you.  And the Bush Plan gives younger workers a choice to invest a small part of their Social Security in sound investments they control ... for higher returns.

Learn more about George Bush's Voluntary Plan for Personal Social Security Retirement Accounts.

The Bush Blueprint: Better for seniors today, better for all of us tomorrow.

  

 
Background: Four days after the DNC went up with its first issue ad, the RNC followed.  The RNC selected as its lead-off issue Social Security, and specifically Gov. Bush's plan to allow workers to invest a small part of their Social Security.  The key phrase "strengthen and improve Social Security" is repeated twice. 

The RNC's first issue ad differs from the DNC's in a number of respects.   It is a 60-second rather than a 30-second spot.  Although Bush is shown and mentioned, his voice is not heard; Gore by contrast had a speaking part.  While the DNC ad which targets "big drug companies," the RNC ad stays positive.  Overall, this ad is crisper and more effective than  the DNC offering.  It takes as a starting point the current national prosperity.  Good use of music and stock footage, including a rising sun, a wheat field and speeded up footage of people getting off a subway train, creates an upbeat mood.  Images of Bush are woven throughout.  (All told, images of Bush are on the screen for about 23 seconds of this 60-second ad, and the words "Bush Plan" appear on the screen for an additional 19 seconds; Bush's name is mentioned five times on the audio track.)  Like the DNC, the RNC launched a web site to go with its ad, www.socialsecurityblueprint.com.