In a series of television commercials and mailings released last weekend, Swallow has revealed his "compare and contrast" strategy for the final two weeks of the campaign.
Swallow's leaflets and commercials use unattractive black-and-white photos of Matheson alone juxtaposed with color photos of Swallow surrounded by his smiling children. Buzzwords such as "abortion" and "liberal" are sprinkled through the text.
The Utah Republican Party paid about $20,000 each for two mailings to 76,000 2nd Congressional District voters this weekend. The 8 1/2 -by-11-inch cards were designed by Arena Communications' Peter Valcarce, according to GOP Director Spencer Jenkins. Valcarce is known in Utah as a master of the attack ad.
One states: "A vote for Jim Matheson comes with a lot of unwanted baggage. Jim Matheson's first vote in each new session of Congress - to make pro-choice San Francisco liberal Nancy Pelosi speaker of the House." A second mailing's headline reads: "John Swallow. Pro-life. Pro-family. Pro-Utah." It continues: "Jim Matheson supports abortions." For artwork, the mailing shows a colorful photo of the Swallow family above a grainy picture of Matheson alone.
Jenkins said the mailings and commercials are "all part of a well-calculated strategy to highlight the holes in Matheson's record. The pieces are meant to contrast. We are trying to take Jim Matheson on on his record. It's very fair."
Television ads paid for by the Swallow camp and the National Republican Congressional Committee follow the same light-and-dark design model. They include footage of Matheson speaking late last month about abortion at KUTV's "Take Two" program. Swallow campaign manager Tim Garon declined to say who scripted and produced the commercials.
Swallow insists he is running an "issues" campaign based on his philosophical differences with Matheson. He says it is fair to focus on only part of the congressman's record of votes on abortion.
"The bottom line is: Matheson has a record, and his record is something we're going to talk about in this campaign," Garon said.
Matheson counters that Swallow's campaign is dishonest. He says his Republican challenger mischaracterizes as a vote for "taxpayer-funded abortions" a bill he voted for allowing U.S. military personnel overseas to undergo abortions at military hospitals if the women paid the cost. And he points out Swallow and the Republicans have chosen to cite his initial vote in 2002 against the federal Partial Birth Abortion Act - which did not include an exception for the mother's health like Utah's law at the time - and ignore his later vote last year in favor the bill in response to constituents. Matheson says he is offended at Swallow's attempts at "guilt by association" and labels.
"No one is 'pro-abortion.' What a disappointment," Matheson said. "I have to guess the Washington outsiders have taken over John Swallow's campaign. These types of attacks have been used on me before and didn't work. Utahns will see through it."
As for the photos chosen, Jenkins says, "We're not trying to imply he doesn't have a family. We're just showing a picture of him so people can identify a picture with a name."
