Iowa Republicans are railing against a new t-v ad touting democrat presidential candidate Al Gore. The ad, which is running nationwide, features a senior citizen who lauds Gore for taking on “big drug companies” who charge “ridiculously high prices” for prescriptions. The ads are financed by the Democratic National Committee with “soft money” — in other words the unlimited and loosely regulated donations to the party. Iowa Republican party executive director Dee Stewart says Gore promised he wouldn’t stand for financing ads with “soft money” unless his opponent, George W. Bush, did it first. Gore says republican allies of Bush have run ads attacking him, so the deal is off. Stewart scoffs, and accuses Gore of breaking a campaign promise. Stewart, however, isn’t attacking the ad itself, as he hasn’t seen it. At a Thursday afternoon news conference at Iowa G-O-P headquarters, Stewart called on the Iowa Democratic Party to pull the ad. Iowa Democratic Party executive director Jeanie Murray says “no way” as the ad touts an issue democrats believe is important. Murray says the ad will run for nine more days. In 1996, the Republican and Democrat parties together spent nearly 70-million dollars in so-called “soft money” advertising which extolled the virtues of Bob Dole and Bill Clinton in the weeks preceding the parties’ national conventions.
