ShareThisBy REBECCA FERRAR and TOM HUMPHREY
Friday, November 03, 2006
The Republican National Committee has pulled one of two controversial ads targeting Democratic Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr. from the airways. And some TV stations have suspended the broadcasting of the second ad, pending a review of its accuracy.
On Wednesday the congressman called the ads "slimy, sleazy and smut. What they're putting up is trash and smut."
Republican Senate nominee Bob Corker has said since the controversy began with the airing of the ad called "Who Hasn't?" on Friday that he has no control over whether the ad runs. He said it should come down. Corker has made that statement on national television.
Both candidates were in Knoxville on Wednesday speaking _ separately _ to the Executive Women's Association.
Ford said if the Democratic National Senatorial Committee ran an ad like the RNC ad, he would have had it pulled within 30 minutes.
Danny Diaz, RNC spokesman, said the ad "Who Hasn't?" was taken off the air statewide as part of a "normal rotation" and not because of criticism. Some critics said it has improper sexual and racial themes.
The "Who Hasn't?" ad shows a man in sunglasses who says, "So he took money from porn-movie producers. Who hasn't?" Then a bare-shouldered blonde says she met Ford at a Playboy party. At the end of the ad, she looks into the camera and says with a wink, "Harold, call me."
The other RNC attack ad called "Shaky" calls Ford "slick" and "smooth" and calls his record "a little shaky." The ad claims that Ford voted to recognize gay marriage and wants to give the abortion pill to schoolchildren.
A letter from Ford's lawyer to Tennessee television stations declares all those claims "blatantly false and misleading."
Of the "Shaky" ad, Ford said, "It's a lie."
As examples, the Ford campaign says Ford voted twice in favor of a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage; a House vote cited as justification for the abortion-pill allegation had nothing to do with the so-called "morning-after" pill, which was not then even available, the campaign said.
Michael Powell, senior adviser to Ford's campaign, estimated that about $500,000 of about $1.5 million in RNC funds for Tennessee television advertising was spent airing the "Who Hasn't?" ad.
Corker issued a statement saying he was glad the ad is leaving the airways.
"Within an hour of seeing the ad for the first time, our campaign publicly denounced it and issued a press release calling for it to be pulled," Corker said.
The Ford campaign notified television stations around the state that it considers the "Shaky" ad to be so blatantly false that it could lead to legal action against stations running it.
On Wednesday, Powell said two stations _ one in Nashville, the other in Chattanooga _ notified Ford lawyers that they would not air the "Shaky" ad pending a review of documents from the RNC and the Ford campaign on its validity.
Diaz, meanwhile, said he knew of at least two stations that had requested a review of information on the ad's validity.
Meanwhile, the candidates stayed away from the ad controversy in speaking to the women's group.
At the noon luncheon, Corker stuck to his script, talking about his background _ attending college at the University of Tennessee, starting a business at age 25 that grew to cover 18 states and traveling to Haiti to do mission work.
When Ford spoke to the group at an evening reception, he stuck to the issues _ mainly Iraq and North Korea. He explained his plan to divide Iraq into three provinces for the Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites, a plan similar to that installed in the Balkans.
Of North Korea, Ford said he is most concerned that the country might export the bomb to a group like al Qaeda.
(Rebecca Ferrar may be reached at 865-342-6357.)
