Negative ads flood airwaves as Americans head to polls (Feature)

By Anne K Walters and Miriam Schmidt Oct 30, 2010, 2:31 GMT

Scranton, Pennsylvania - An overweight man in his underwear plops down on a 1970s-era couch with a bag of chips.

'Know a guy who wears out his welcome?' the voiceover says. 'Paul Kanjorski has just been around too long.'

The political campaign ad for Republican challenger Lou Barletta in the congressional election in north-eastern Pennsylvania attempts to tie the 26-year Democratic incumbent with government pay raises and unpopular Washington bailouts of Wall Street, as the slob continues to disgust others who try to sit on the couch.

The airwaves are full of such negative ads just days before Americans head to the polls to elect their representation in Congress on Tuesday. Republicans hope that they can regain control of the legislative body and derail much of President Barack Obama's agenda.

A favoured tactic in this election cycle is tying Democrats to their unpopular Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, the economic downturn and Obama's policies.

The tight race in the working-class community of Scranton is among the battlegrounds, where Republicans have a good shot of toppling Democrats.

Negative ads have long been a feature of elections in the United States, but this year's campaign has been aided by a recent Supreme Court ruling that lifted limits on how much outside groups can spend on ads.

Though the scene on the couch was funded by Barletta's campaign, outside groups, including many that appear to be previously unknown front groups, are also spending money on spots here.

One such ad by a group dubbing itself the 60 Plus Association points to the Democrat's support of Obama's healthcare reforms and claims they would cut the existing government plan for seniors. Democrats said they found the spot so full of lies that they even asked local broadcasters to remove the ad.

The attacks go both ways, however, and Republican candidate Barletta has been accused of running the city where he is mayor into the ground. He was forced to go on the counterattack with an ad decrying negative ads.

The outside ads have made a huge difference in some races already, says Ralph Begleiter, director of the Centre for Political Communication at the University of Delaware.

He points to the surprise success of Republican Christine O'Donnell, a darling of the conservative Tea Party movement, in the Delaware primary election earlier this year. Analysts did not expect her to win her party's nomination, but outside money helped push her over the edge, he says.

'Everybody wants to bet on a winner,' he told the German Press Agency dpa in an interview. 'I think the money tends to be spent by these outside groups in places where those groups think they can actually make a difference.'

Elsewhere in Pennsylvania, where Republicans could take over a number of seats currently held by Democrats, the surge in political ads from outside groups is prompting concern among the centre-left party.

Democrats worry some of these ads, which aren't easily traced back to their donors, will skew the vote. Kevin McTigue, the campaign manager for Democratic candidate Bryan Lentz in suburban Philadelphia, notes his candidate is being outspent '44-1' by outside groups.

'This is one of the dirtiest elections I've seen - on both sides,' said Jane O'Reilly, 79, while eating lunch with her husband at a suburban Philadelphia McDonald's. 'It's negative everything. It doesn't turn me on.'

Elsewhere around the country ads have become even more extreme and personal - with one candidate accusing his opponent of blasphemy and another likening the opposition to the Taliban.

But at least one candidate has had a different idea.

'I guess I'm not a very good politician because I can't stand negative ads. Everytime I see a negative ad I feel like a need to take a shower,' says Democratic candidate for governor of Colorado, John Hickenlooper, in an ad where he steps into the shower fully clothed.

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