Dennis Tennant / McClatchy Tribune

WASHINGTON — They are fiery watch-words of an increasingly combative and negative presidential campaign debate, the one that rivals John McCain and Barack Obama are bankrolling with their own campaign commercials in the most competitive states:

“Dangerous … Not truthful … Hypocrite … Disrespectful … Not ready to lead.â€Â Those are the warnings that McCain and the Republican National Committee have aired about Obama.

“Out of touch … No maverick … Same failed policies … Sleazy ads … John McCain doesn’t get it.â€Â
Obama̢۪s campaign has aired those warnings about McCain.

As national daily tracking polls indicate Obama’s advantage over McCain is growing — an 11-point lead for Obama in the newest polling results Thursday — McCain’s campaign has grown increasingly negative. An independent review by university ad-watchers has found that “nearly 100 percent of the McCain campaign’s advertisements were negativeâ€Â during the past week, compared with 34 percent of Obama’s.

With the two campaigns spending upwards of $30 million a week on TV ads — and Obama outspending McCain by about $17.5 million to $10.9 during the past week — the ad war reflects the intensity of the presidential contest in its closing month: McCain’s assault, in particular, a final attempt at evening the score.

While TV viewers nationwide get a taste of the cross-fire in ads that the candidates place on national cable TV networks, the battle is concentrated on the network airwaves of several states that will prove pivotal on Election Day, Nov. 4: Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Obama has outspent McCain in those states by 2-to-1 in the past week.

Yet McCain has outdone Obama in a negative ad war that has grown personal in its assaults. McCain, who for some time has portrayed Obama as “dangerously unpreparedâ€Â for the presidency, is questioning his very character. Obama, for his part, is painting a picture of an over-the-hill rival dwelling in the past.

Since the start, the Wisconsin Advertising Project at the University of Wisconsin at Madison reports, 73 percent of the ads McCain has aired and 61 percent of Obama̢۪s have been negative.

“If it continues, this rate of negativity is unprecedented in the presidential scenario,â€Â says John Geer, author of “In Defense of Negativity: Attack Ads in Presidential Campaignsâ€Â and a political scientist at Vanderbilt University. “We’ve clearly had it over 50 percent with President Bush in 2004, but at this rate if McCain continues it, he’ll probably break the modern record.â€Â

The campaigns have launched a barrage of attack ads: From June 3, when the primaries ended, through Sept. 7, Nielsen Media Services has found that McCain ran 76,238 negative ads against Obama, and Obama ran 75,246 negative ads against McCain.

But the balance has tipped since McCain has slipped in the polls, a souring economy credited with boosting Obama’s fortunes — with more voters voicing confidence in Obama than McCain in handling the economy. The newest Gallup daily tracking poll shows Obama holding a two-day edge over McCain: 52 to 41 percent.

On Thursday, McCain supplemented his air attack with a campaign Web site-based video challenging Obama for his civic work with William Ayers, a Chicago education professor and erstwhile leader of the militant anti-war group the Weather Underground during the 1960s.

“Obama’s friendship with terrorist Ayers isn’t the issue,â€Â claims McCain’s Web video, mainly a bid for media attention to the issue. “The issue is Barack Obama’s judgment and candor.â€Â

Yet McCain does not hold any patent on negative ads. For some time, as McCain portrayed his rival as “not ready to lead,â€Â Obama has painted McCain as “out of touch.â€Â

Obama, who is 47, has overtly played on the age of his rival, who is 72, according to Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

“Democrats are implying questions about Sen. McCain’s mental stability, temperament and age,â€Â said Jamieson, suggesting that both sides have stooped to “dishonorableâ€Â tactics. “Republicans are casting Sen. Obama as dishonest and dangerous.â€Â

By Mark Silva / McClatchy Tribune