US News

ADWATCH

CANDIDATE: Hillary Rodham Clinton

TITLE: “Won’t See”

RUNNING TIME: 30 seconds

WHERE SHOWN: Statewide

PRODUCED BY: “Team Hillary,” which includes admaker Mandy Grunwald, pollster Mark Penn and ad firm DeVito/Verdi

TEXT: Announcer, The end to nursing home standards. The largest education cuts in history. The slashing of Medicare by $270 billion. Who voted for all this? Rick Lazio. Four years as Newt Gingrich’s deputy whip. You won’t see that in his ads. And you won’t see his recent votes against investing in 100,000 new teachers and against guaranteed prescription-drug coverage under Medicare.

“With Rick Lazio, the more you know, the more you wonder.”

VISUALS: The male announcer’s words are in white text on a black background, such as “The End to Nursing Home Standards”; a shot of Lazio and Gingrich together; a picture of a stunned-looking Lazio with his mouth open, as words appear on the screen: “Voted against 100,000 new teachers,” plus the rest of the text.

ACCURACY: Each vote mentioned in the ad was backed up by Clinton with voting-record citations – and disputed by Lazio with voting-record citations. The two camps even turned to some of the same congressional measures but drew entirely different conclusions about what Lazio may or may not have supported.

ANALYSIS: Hillary’s been stuck in the polls and this ad won’t push her numbers up one iota. But the Clinton campaign believes that when voters weigh Lazio’s current commercial about his record and this one, their impression of Lazio will tilt more toward the negative.

LAZIO RESPONSE: “This ad is a series of lies, and New Yorkers can now see Mrs. Clinton has a fundamental problem telling the truth. They can’t trust a word she says.” – Lazio spokesman Dan McLagan.