This one is easy to spike. We also quoted the New York media consultant David Garth, who made spots for John Lindsay's spooked presidential bid in the 1970s. Martin Van Buren was called a transvestite, Lincoln a baboon, Cleveland a wife beater, Theodore Roosevelt a drug addict. Coming into our living rooms, television forced campaigns to clean up their acts. Gosh, and geewillikers.
Negative ads depress voter participation.
This has become the new mantra of the 1990s. Never mind that the low presidential turn-out of last Tuesday has multiple causes, such as low inflation, modest interest rates, high employment figures, no American troops dying overseas, maybe the unappealing choices. If critics really know why people do or don't vote, they should sell their juju immediately to Al Gore and Jack Kemp, the presumptive candidates in 2000, or to Steve Forbes, who can outbid everyone. Besides, the slight rise in turnout in the 1992 presidential campaign may be a better indicator of what's ahead than the drop-off this year. This has more to do with demographics and economics than with attack ads, TV, or cynicism.