Inside Politics

Attention span

To whom is America paying attention?

Ann Coulter, author of the best-selling book “Treason,” appeared on Fox News’ “Hannity & Colmes” on Monday night, in direct competition with the man touted as the hottest media figure of the week, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who was a guest on CNN’s “Larry King Live.”

Miss Coulter drew almost twice the audience that Mr. Dean did, according to Nielsen ratings — about 1.5 million viewers. Mr. Dean had 804,000 viewers.

Some in the print and broadcast media, meanwhile, are intent on reinventing Mr. Dean’s image “to disguise his liberalness,” noted the Media Research Center (MRC) yesterday.

“Before former Vermont Governor Howard Dean can be painted as a far-left ideologue, the national media are coming to his aid, penning stories about how he’s not only not liberal, he’s really a conservative,” noted MRC’s Brent Baker.

This week alone, the MRC tracked such tactics on CNBC and NBC, and in the New York Times, The Washington Post and Time magazine.

Daschle manor

The Club for Growth, a tax-cuts advocacy group, began running a TV ad yesterday against Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, blasting the South Dakota Democrat for buying a $2 million home on Foxhall Road while opposing President Bush’s tax-cut package.

The Club, which made its name backing conservatives in primaries against liberal Republicans, has put Mr. Daschle at the top of its 2004 target list. This new spot is timed to coincide with Mr. Daschle’s annual “drive” across South Dakota.

But the Club hopes Mr. Daschle’s constituents wonder how he is able to afford a new home in Washington while trying to block a tax cut for them.

“Maybe they don’t want tax relief on Foxhall Road,” an announcer says before the screen flashes to Aberdeen, S.D., resident Wayne Greenfield, who says, “But we sure can use it here in Aberdeen.”

The ad shows a road sign for Aberdeen, which says “Home of U.S. Senator Tom Daschle,” then flashes to a shot of Mr. Daschle’s new manor on Foxhall Road, billed as a “great place to entertain Hollywood liberals, politicians and lobbyists.”

The ads are being run in Sioux Falls, S.D., and on South Dakota cable networks. Dan Pfeiffer, a spokesman for Mr. Daschle, predicted the ads will have little effect.

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