European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 13, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday october 13,1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 17 new pulls races of dirt Davids. Broder every time you think that the political Campaign operatives have hit Bottom and can to find anything sneaker and More underhanded to do they prove you. Wrong. But i was unprepared for their latest tactic. Four years ago after seeing How negative television ads were poisoning the atmosphere reporters and news organizations began to become More aggressive in disclosing the distortions and lies that were too often embedded in those ads. Negative ads remain in the Arsenal of the candidates and Campaign consultants. But More and More newspapers radio and television Star Tigris Are dissecting them and exposing the falsity of their claims. The Media advisers have Learned that they better be ready to provide the documentation for their charges. They May even have become More careful about the claims that their ads make. A. / a mailings from the candidates often have been worse than the ads they put on the air. A. The mailings Are harder for the press to detect. Often they Are targeted to narrow demographic or geographic audiences and timed to arrive just before election Day when the opportunities for opposition rebuttal or press analysis Are foreclosed. But the very fact that the mailings can be preserved and the signer identified provides a degree of deterrence against totally false charges a sometimes. A a a a recently i was introduced to something far sneaker. It is known As the a push  it is a real stealth weapon and in a told by politicians in both the major parties that it is spreading like the plague. Here show it works your phone rings and someone from the a Acme Survey Center a or some other such vague name says a a in a taking a Survey of voters. In the contest Between Gwendolyn Jones and David Broder for the congressional seat in our District would you favor Jones or Broder or Are you undecided  your answer is either Broder or undecided the Quot interviewer then says something like this a if i told you that Broders Hobby is driving a High powered sports car at dangerous speeds through residential neighbourhoods and seeing How Many pet cats and dogs he can run Over would that make a difference in your vote . A a after another question of two the interview closes with a repeat of the ballot question a Jones or Broder or cited.  v its called a a push poll a because the idea is to see if certain a a information can a a push voters away from the opposition candidate or the undecided column into support of the candidate favored by the people paying for the poll. Initially in a told it was simply a research tool. Quot a a. Campaigns always do opposition research trying to learn All they can about the background of the opponent. Then in Small surveys or focus groups a round table discussions with a dozen or so people a they test which items of a a information cause voters to rethink their original preference. It was a focus group of that sort that led the late Lee Atwater in 1988 to discover the Power of the a a information about parole being granted to a murderer under legislation signed by Michael Dukakis. A a a we that in turn led to the Bush campaigns famous revolving door and Willie Horton ads. Used in that Way in a Small group setting with accurate information the a push poll May be unlovely but its not really dirty politics. It was not Long however before other uses crept in. A push polls a in a told Are now used frequently to change the results of a Survey so that an underdog candidate can Tell potential contributors that a informed voters give him of her an excellent Chance of beating the favorite. What Isnit said is that the a a informed voters have often been fed a a information of the running Over pet cats and dogs for a Hobby variety. Even More vicious is the use of mass phone Banks to pump thousands of Calls into a District feeding false information about the opposition candidate under the Guise of taking a poll. It was this practice that rep. Tim Petri r-wis., decried in a Brief House speech last week. Petri told me that he had the tactic used against him in his last Campaign. Rep. Steve Horn r-calif., ran into it in 1992, when someone paid callers to misinform thousands of Nis voters that he wanted to let Long Beach Street gangs buy All the uzis and assault weapons they might want. It is not limited to one party. Rep. Vic Fazio d-calif., chairman of the democratic congressional Campaign committee said it is being used with increasing frequency against democrats As Well often on the eve of the primary or dec Tion in which they Are running. Each Side blames the other. Both say that outside groups representing one interest or another often pay for the phoning to be done from a Distant state to make the source of the mischief harder to Trace and they suspect to evade the disclosure requirements for Campaign expenditures. Petri says the growing practice merits attention from the Federal election commission. Meantime beware of so called a a pollsters offering you disparaging a a information about political candidates. They re not on the level. A c wasting ton Post a. A taking the Good with the bad in California los Angeles a a cognitive dissonance is the jangling in your head when you hold beliefs that clash with each other. Nowhere does that apply More than in the 1994 Campaign in California. 1. Women running As candidates Are Good but candidates running As women Are bad. Both parties need to get More women running fur Ever higher positions. When republicans elected Christie Whitman As new Jersey governor last year they opened the possibility of a woman on the 1996 National ticket. But the 1992 a year of the woman a when some female candidates won mainly on the basis of sex is having its inevitable backlash. ,. One sign of women voters political maturity is that the moment of High heeled shoo ins has past. A. In California the Only state with twp women democratic senators Kathleen Brown found that a a. Mous family name combined with womanhood does not a gubernatorial candidacy make. And when she turned on senators Boxer and Feinstein for having changed their minds about capital punishment a suggesting that Only she remained pm Cipley in opposition a Jerry Browne a sister turned Oft some female democrats. 2. The Best candidate has the worst Issue. Gov. Me Wilson who seemed to have terminal negatives a year ago got up off the floor roared Back and now has a commanding Lead. The former mayor and senator universally described in the Media As a a Gritty sex Marine a has a lock on Law a no order a Victory in our largest state would give the gop a hot Prospect to make Bill Clinton a one term president. Wilson has said this race would Cap his career but most californians like most new yorkers do not worry about their governors using the statehouse As a stepping Stone the dissonance Wilson a Ami illegal immigrant rhetoric so helpful to his resuscitation has led the Gritty sex Marine to embrace the a save our state propose a Tion. V ,7, 7 a a a a a a a a a a a. A a this nativist abomination would deny education to children of illegals and turn teachers into government informers and for what a to put hard working immigrants in costly jails / libertarian conservatives like me Are a Small segment of the voting Public but we have Long memories and Are put off by this excessive grittiness. Pro Choice Pete Wilson so attractive Iii so Many ways As a decisive Quot hold Down government alternative to Clinton could find that Riding this anti immigrant tide today could generate a powerful undertow later. 3. Business executives should plunge into politics but a private Fortune  buy a Senate seat. Michael huffing ton a one term . House member Given no Chance at the Start to upset the experienced senator Feinstein has spent $10 million in attack ads to draw even in polls a but is not pulling ahead. A however Wilson a manager George Gorton tells me that with Likely Low turnout this year a Democrat needs a for Point poll Lead to win. The senator a wealthy _ _ woman is now professing to be considering mortgaging her Home to raise to Money. Democrats on the defensive for Feinstein a tax in crease vote Are reduced to complaining about Arianna William Safire Stass Nopoulos Huffington a new age spirituality. That a almost As Low ask Teddy Kennedy a desperate blast at his opponents mormonism in Massachusetts Arianna Huffington is the republicans Shirley Mac lain. A a i 7 a Carpetbagger charge at Michael Huffington a texan has Little resonance in a state filled with people from elsewhere. When Robert Kennedy ran for the Senate in new York he was accused of asking a where Are the Bronx a did no to Stop him plenty of dissonance Here. This outcome will depend on the emergence of a a Clothespin vote for Huffington a from people willing to tolerate an activist or. Rivise with profound pockets and a right winging inclination to let Mem eat cake a in the Hope of changing the majority in the . Senate. The year of the men Only on the surface even if males in High visibility California and Illinois defeat female opponents. If women lose this year they can blame president Albatross in California As across the nation More and better women candidates Are in the wings. Cognitive dissonance is a bother to partisans of individual politicians and to True believers in any ideology but serves an ameliorating purpose you lose a Little with your Winner and win a Little with your loser. A i c new York times., the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those or the authors and arc in no Way. To be considered As representing the views of the stars and stripes or the United Stales government