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Richard Burr's Message in the 2004 NC Senate Election
Ward Long
Description
In early summer, Richard Burr started running radio and television ads to across North Carolina. Working to cement his lead in the July 20 Republican Primary and to introduce the candidate to voters outside his Fifth Congressional District, this early wave of Burr ads focused on his role as father, husband, and son. Family members narrate the radio clips, and the early television commercials end with a shot of the Burr family, with the memorable taglines, “We all approve this message,” or “Brooke and I approve this message” (Kinnard). These ads eshew specific issue positions in favor of concepts of trust, shared values, and character. Later advertisements highlighted Burr’s ten year record in the House, addressing pressing concerns about trade, jobs, and tax cuts. While more issue-oriented, these ads primary serve as evidence of that Richard Burr is a hardworking, likable public servant.
Trailing Bowles by ten points or more in the polls, Burr retooled his message in early September. Burr emphasized his strong ties to the Republican party, appearing at campaign stops with beloved Senator Elisabeth Dole, hosting fundraising dinners with Dick Cheney, and speaking about the President's culture of life issues. Burr "said he would spend $6.7 million on a statewide as campaign between mid-September and November 2," dwarfing the modest two million dollars the Burr campaign spent over the previous year. Just as Burr promised for "skin to rip and blood to flow," this batch of advertising adopted a negative tone (Savodnik). The new Burr ads showed Bowles standing next to Bill Clinton, while the narrator blasted Bowles' on trade and linked him to Presidential hopeful John Kerry (Kinnard).
Evaluation
From a practical point of view, Burr's two-stage message strategy proved highly effective. Although Bowles had better name recognition, a healthy campaign chest, and an ten point lead early in the race, Burr won 52 percent to 47 percent (“2004…”). Burr’s early positive ads focused on generic candidate imagery and valence issues, and while they failed to generate immediate results, they laid a subtle foundation of trust. Burr's negative advertising and partisian message linked the local race to positive national trends, as Burr rode the President's 14-point coatails in North Carolina, and linked his opponent with Clinton and Kerry, unpopular liberals.
From a normative perspective, Burr's attacks on the Bowles trade record are hypocritical and misleading. Both Burr and Bowles supported the NAFTA agreements, but both reconsidered after seeing North Carolina hemmorage jobs. There are also normative concerns about campaigns centered around moral values, as politicians have limited influence on private morality, and new legislation on the President's culuture of life is unlikely.
Honor Pledge: This assignment represents my original work and follows the guidelines of the Davidson College Honor Code.
Contact: Ward Long.
November 15, 2004.