McGavick cuts back TV spots on Seattle stations

Republican Mike McGavick canceled political ads at three Seattle television stations Tuesday.

While often a signal of a campaign in trouble, McGavick's spokesman, Elliott Bundy, said the change of course was needed to target money toward direct-mail and voter-turnout operations.

"You make these decisions as you move along," Bundy said. "There's nothing to read into that."

KING-TV, KIRO-TV and KOMO-TV all reported that McGavick had substantially reduced the number of campaign spots to be shown from now until Election Day.

As of last week, McGavick had booked $239,475 at KIRO-TV from Oct. 30 to Nov. 7.

On Tuesday, the figure dropped to $181,800. Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell has booked $149,875 for the same period.

Because the candidates' contracts are structured differently, it is impossible to compare their ad buys. But the sales staffs at the three stations said McGavick was the only federal office-seeker to scale back.

McGavick canceled $33,000 at KING-TV on Tuesday, reducing his ad spending for Oct. 15 to Nov. 6 to about $428,000.

Cantwell's contracts, however, run weekly. In four contracts between Oct. 24 and Nov. 7, the freshman senator is scheduled to spend about $316,900 at KING-TV.

The Cantwell campaign said the canceled ads signify growing unease by McGavick, who personally contributed $500,000 to his campaign last week.

The money was about $300,000 less than McGavick could have spent without triggering the Federal Election Commission rules that allow opponents of self-financed candidates to raise more money. The $300,000 difference indicates McGavick is unwilling to invest in his own effort, the Cantwell camp said.

Libertarian Bruce Guthrie, who loaned his campaign about $1.1 million to make himself eligible for a televised debate Oct. 17, has booked only $6,000 of ads to run on KING-TV.

Guthrie is featured in McGavick's latest television ad. Titled "Decisive," the 30-second spot attempts to portray Cantwell as "vague" on Iraq, a subject few Republican candidates have been willing to discuss across the country.

Appearing in the ad, McGavick states: "On Iraq, Bruce Guthrie and Aaron Dixon have the guts to say what they think. They say, let's get the troops out now. But Maria Cantwell? It's just politics."

In the past few months, McGavick has said immediate withdrawal was the "least moral" option in Iraq and instead advocated a policy of trying to stabilize the nation regardless of the political solution. He has never before cast in a positive light those who advocate leaving Iraq.

In his television ad, McGavick says, "It's time to be decisive. Beat the terrorists. Partition the country if we have to and get our troops home in victory."

Guthrie has released three television spots that also take on Cantwell.

The low-budget ads feature paper-bag puppets who tell an off-screen interviewer that they intend to vote for Cantwell, despite her support of the Iraq war and the Patriot Act.

Travis Wright, Guthrie's campaign manager, said the ads targeted Cantwell because she enjoys the advantage of being a Democrat in a year when polls suggest widespread discontent with Republican lawmakers.

"Everybody knows people are ticked off at Republicans. All we have to do is get people to realize Maria Cantwell voted with the Republican Party on some of the same things they are angry about," Wright said.

Wright said no one from the Democratic camp had complained that Guthrie was aiming his ads only at Cantwell.

"Maria Cantwell is probably feeling pretty confident right now," he said. "She's not going to worry about it too much."

Alex Fryer: 206-464-8124 or afryer@seattletimes.com