Political Advertising

If you live in the 46th Congressional District, you probably have read these claims in political mailers that have come to your door: * Democratic candidate Loretta Sanchez wants to cut funding for military training. * Her campaign is being run by a convicted felon. * Incumbent Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) wrote a bad check on the infamous House bank to fix up his Virginia home. * He repeatedly voted to cut Medicare by hundreds of billions of dollars.

On the final weekend of the campaign, perhaps no place in the state was more crucial to Democratic prospects for victory in legislative races than a nondescript office building on a side street a few blocks from the state Capitol.

When I think of the local elections, my mind centers on the television advertisement Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti is using against his opponent, John Lynch. As Lynch's face ripples and changes colors in a sinister graphic process, he looks as though he is being taken over by a space alien. Through the brief commercial, Lynch appears to be fighting the alien, but losing. I won't get into the substance of the ad.

The television wars over Proposition 209 heated up again Thursday when the initiative's sponsors and the state Republican Party both launched new commercials to boost the measure. State Republican Party Chairman John Herrington said the GOP ad will respond to a recent television commercial from opponents of the initiative that features a cross-burning scene and attempts to link proponents with former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. "I think it is morally reprehensible," Herrington said.

Los Angeles officials and Valley community leaders have been grappling for years with the issue of illegally posted signs. At the moment, though, Gloria Woods is more worried about the glue. Woods, a board member and anti-graffiti volunteer with the Studio City Residents Assn., said illegal signs in her community peaked during the election season. Especially vexing, she said, were the "No on Prop. 209" placards and dozens of signs along Ventura Boulevard promoting a Sept.

President Clinton sent a letter to former First Lady Nancy Reagan on Wednesday as his campaign promised to stop airing an advertisement that features footage of the 1981 assassination attempt on former President Reagan--but only after the ad has run for about a week. The ad includes a testimonial for Clinton from gun-control advocate James S. Brady. Brady, Reagan's press secretary, was severely wounded in the attempt on the president's life. Mrs.

Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole issued a biting attack on illegal immigration Thursday as his campaign disclosed plans for a major shift in strategy--cutting back efforts in several Eastern states to pay for an expensive, last-ditch advertising blitz in California. Touting internal polls that Republican officials said show Dole trailing President Clinton in California by single digits, the GOP campaign readied a statewide advertising effort that will start with two new ads today.

The footage begins like a campaign ad for former President Daniel Ortega, who is running for office again. The onetime revolutionary commander solemnly quotes the Bible: "By their works ye shall know them."

From atop the steps outside the shiny, glass sports hall here, the big and boisterous opposition rally provided compelling television. One by one, politicians hoping to wrest control of Yugoslavia from longtime leader Slobodan Milosevic mounted the stairs, denouncing the Serbian president as a despot and promising democracy and greater freedom if they are victorious in federal voting on Sunday. The Klieg lights were blinding. The sound system was thunderous. Cameras rolled from start to finish.

State Republican leaders said Monday that they hope to usher their California candidates to victory starting today with a major television blitz backing Proposition 209, the initiative to end state and local government affirmative action programs. California GOP Chairman John Herrington said Monday that the party will far exceed the $1-million budget it had previously planned for Proposition 209. "It's big money," he said.