Republicans Pick Boogeymen for Campaign

GOP vilifies Sens. Clinton, Kennedy, Daschle
Democrats target corporate executives

CONWAY, Arkansas (AP) -- Sen. Tim Hutchinson had a comeback ready when Democratic challenger Mark Pryor used their recent debate to cast himself as a moderate open to ideas from both parties.

"Democrats who say they're conservative go to Washington, D.C., and cast that first vote for Tom Daschle for majority leader," said Hutchinson.

His remark elicited groans and chuckles from Republicans in the University of Central Arkansas audience -- exactly the effect he was seeking. It exemplified a strategy both parties use every election season: going after their opponents in campaign ads, fund-raising appeals and speeches by linking them with high-profile lightning rods from the other side.

Boogeymen.

Rather than seeking political converts, the tactic is principally designed to energize party loyalists, say political operatives and analysts.

"They typically speak to people already ideologically in line with the party, or leaning toward their party ... to reinforce their belief that it's important to vote" or contribute money, said Stephen Ansolabehere, a political scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Daschle, D-South Dakota, the Senate majority leader, has become one of the GOP's favorite targets as leader of what Republicans call the "Daschle Democrats." But because he is still a fresh face on the national scene, Republicans often prefer to use two of his better-known Democratic colleagues: Sens. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, the former first lady.

This year's examples featured in Democratic campaigns tend to be more generic, including corporate executives, the failed Enron Corp., health maintenance organizations and pharmaceutical companies.

Democrats: 'Nobody is Newt'

For Democrats, no one has risen to the level of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Georgia, a staple in their ads and money-raising solicitations as a symbol of extremism after the government shutdowns of 1995 and 1996.

"The boogey-people on our side are out of politics; it's really the HMOs, Enron and the drug companies that are the Newt Gingriches of this cycle on our side. Nobody is Newt," Mark Mellman, a Democratic consultant, said almost wistfully.

Similarly, former President Clinton's usefulness as a tool for Republicans has faded. But there is still his wife.

"Hillary Clinton and Kennedy -- they're two Democratic symbols of liberalism, of what people particularly in South Carolina don't want in their U.S. senators," said GOP consultant Greg Stevens. "It's an emotional response."

Hoping to capitalize, a Stevens-produced ad is now running in South Carolina for GOP Rep. Lindsey Graham, who is hoping to replace retiring Republican Sen. Strom Thurmond. The spot depicts Clinton and Kennedy nameplates on a Senate committee desk flanking one for Alex Sanders, the Democratic candidate.

"The choice is ours," an announcer says. "Move the seat to the liberal Democratic side, or let Lindsey Graham continue the fight for conservative South Carolina values."

In a twist, Daschle is mentioned favorably in one GOP ad -- by his fellow South Dakotan, Rep. John Thune.

"As your Republican senator, I'll work with President Bush and with Tom Daschle to ensure South Dakota's needs are represented," says Thune, who is trying to unseat Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson. Daschle is campaigning hard for Johnson.

In a sampling of other commercials,