NRA opens wallet for pivotal race
Eager to put ally in White House, gun rights group spending
at record levels
By Juliet Eilperin
THE WASHINGTON POST
WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 � National Rifle Association officials
don�t like to speak too loudly about how much they want GOP
nominee George W. Bush to become president. But even as NRA
chief lobbyist James J. Baker took pains in a recent
interview to highlight the differences between his
organization and Bush, he added, �The differences between a
President Bush and gun owners and a President Gore and gun
owners are like the differences between night and day.�
With the stakes so high, the NRA has launched its largest
political push ever, spending between $15 million and $20
million, an amount that NRA spokesman Bill Powers estimated
will be �at least twice and probably three times bigger�
than any of its previous efforts.
FOR GUN-RIGHTS ADVOCATES, Tuesday�s election is
one of the most pivotal in decades. After spending eight
years on the defensive during the Clinton administration,
the NRA is eager to place an ally in the White House. And
while gun groups relied on a bipartisan coalition in
Congress to scuttle gun control legislation last summer,
they remain wary of Democratic congressional leaders who
would renew their push for gun restrictions if they
managed to win back the House or Senate.
If Bush wins and the GOP retains control of the
legislative branch, for example, the NRA wants to see
Congress pass a measure protecting firearms manufacturers
from lawsuits that seek to hold them liable for gun-related
injuries and deaths. A Gore administration, by contrast,
would likely press forward with such suits and implement a
plan to award preferential treatment to manufacturers that
adopt safety measures such as trigger locks. In addition,
Vice President Gore has called for the adoption of a
nationwide photo licensing system, which is opposed by
many gun owners.
The NRA�s political action committee has raised
$11.4 million in contributions, more than twice as much
as it took in four years ago. The NRA�s largess has grown
accordingly. This year the group has spent nearly $5
million on independent expenditures to support or target
specific candidates, including $1.6 million in support of
Bush. Four years ago, it spent just $1.7 million on all
candidates combined. In addition, the NRA has given more
than $1.1 million directly to federal candidates.
By early this month, according to Powers, the
group had sent out more direct mail than in 1996 and
1998 combined.
But that is just one part of the NRA�s political
activity. Like other interest groups, it is taking
maximum advantage of its ability to conduct �issue
advertising� that allows it to spend freely on political
activity as long as it stops short of calling for the
election or defeat of specific candidates.
Within the last month, the NRA�s �Vote Freedom
First� campaign has become increasingly visible in
electoral battlefields around the country. The principle
embodied in the campaign�s slogan-which is splashed
across billboards in states including Kentucky, Michigan,
Pennsylvania and Virginia-is that Americans should vote
strictly on the question of gun control this year to
preserve their rights.
NRA President Charlton Heston, who barnstormed
through Wisconsin, West Virginia, Tennessee and Arkansas
this week, told his followers: �Forget the slogans and
sound bites. Forget all of the clamor and chatter that
distracts from this singular truth: Freedom has never
seen greater peril, nor needed you more urgently to
come to her defense.�
While the issue-advertising campaign is suddenly
capturing voters� attention, the NRA has been laying the
groundwork for it for months. Last year it began running
half-hour infomercials warning in dark terms of how gun
control measures had led to rampant crime in South Africa,
Canada and Australia, which the group followed with ones
featuring TV talk show host Rosie O�Donnell�s appearance
at this year�s Million Mom March. According to the NRA�s
director of federal affairs, Chuck Cunningham, the group
uses the image of O�Donnell, who has emerged as a vocal
gun control advocate, because �she�s shrill and repulsive,
and that footage startles gun owners.�
The ads, which cost more than $1 million to
produce and run, have helped boost the group�s membership
to more than 4.1 million.
But Joe Sudbay, political director of Handgun
Control, said the NRA�s tactics have backfired, noting
that GOP Senate candidates Spencer Abraham (Mich.) and
George Allen (Va.) both lost ground in the polls recently
after the gun lobby spent nearly $600,000 on their behalf.
�The gun people knew who they were going to vote
for a year ago,� Sudbay said, adding that Heston�s call
for a �lynching� of Gore in Michigan recently �reminded
women across the country of the NRA�s extremism.�
NRA officials, for their part, say their hand has
been strengthened by the fact that both the presidential
race and many key congressional races have been centered
in states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio and
Missouri, which are home to many sporting and hunting
enthusiasts.
�If the election was going to be decided in
California and New York, it would not have that much
mpact,� Baker observed, adding that his group deliberately
aired its infomercials in battleground states in the
Midwest and elsewhere. �But the election is not going to
be decided there.�
The group is also deploying legions of volunteers
to help turn out pro-gun voters on Election Day. In
western Pennsylvania, where state Rep. Terry Van Horne (D)
is battling NRA-endorsed state Sen. Melissa Hart (R) for
the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Rep. Ron
Klink, the group has recruited �election volunteer
coordinators� such as Paul Bardash, whose home answering
machine message helpfully offers numbers for volunteers
to contact the campaigns of Hart and Sen. Rick Santorum
(R-Pa.). University of Florida professor Herb Nigg,
another NRA election volunteer coordinator working to
elect Republican Adam Putnam in retiring GOP Rep. Bill
McCollum�s district, said he and others realized they
had to work against local car dealer Mike Stedem as
soon as he got a campaign contribution from Handgun
Control.
�I�ve never been active in a campaign before,�
Nigg said. �I thought, maybe it�s time to stand up for
what I believe in.�
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