Bush launches Olympic ad

2004-08-13 18:25

Liz Sidoti

Washington - Keying on the Olympics, President George W Bush launched a new television ad on Friday focusing on "two more free nations" and "two fewer terrorists regimes" as the summer games begin, part of a $28m advertising effort for August.

The ad will run during the Olympic games and sports programming on national cable channels.

In a first for a presidential campaign, the ad also will air on a TV network of 250 fitness centres in Washington, New York City and eight swing states.

At the same time, Bush is spending more money on ads for August.

He will spend a staggering $28m, and possibly more, to run TV and radio ads in local media markets in 19 states and on national cable networks this month.

Seeking to bolster his national security credentials, Bush's new ad reminds voters that his administration succeeded in toppling controlling governments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The ad shows a colosseum during a previous Olympics as it notes the world had 40 democracies in 1972, compared with 120 today.

As a swimmer dives into her race lane, a voice says: "Freedom is spreading throughout the world like a sunrise."

Then it adds: "With strength, resolve and courage, democracy will triumph over terror. And, hope will defeat hatred."

Bush's foray onto the fitness centre TV network is the latest example of the campaign's effort to catch hard-to-reach voters and niche demographics.

The fitness centre network reaches 8 million people a month.

- AP