Another Yucca ad set to air in Nevada

Kirsten Searer and Suzanne Struglinski

Thursday, Aug. 26, 2004 | 11:10 a.m.

It's Round 4 of the Yucca Mountain television war.

The Democratic National Committee will launch its own 30-second television ad in Nevada defending Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's record on the Yucca Mountain project.

The ad will begin running tonight or Friday, two days after the Kerry-Edwards campaign released its own ad on the nuclear waste storage debate in response to one the Bush campaign starting airing one earlier this week.

"We are not going to let George Bush continuously mislead the people of Nevada," said Nick Shapiro, committee spokesman in Washington, D.C. "Nevada remembers his promise from four years ago and, plain and simple, he broke that promise. John Kerry has stood with Nevada when it counted and when he's elected president, he will make sure the Yucca Mountain project is stopped."

In the new spot, the DNC says Bush's ads have been deemed "false," "misleading," and "wrong" and "Now George Bush is attacking John Kerry on Yucca Mountain."

The ad closes by saying, "It's John Kerry Nevada can count on. All we've gotten from George bush is broken promises and negative attacks."

Shapiro did not know specific details on the cost of the ad, only that is was "significant" and the Yucca ad will replace a health care themed ad the committee is now airing in the state. The committee will still air an ad featuring retired Gen. Tony McPeak, former Air Force chief of staff, that focuses on Kerry's strong national security credentials.

Meanwhile, the Kerry-Edwards campaign released its own television ad Wednesday to refute recent claims that Democratic Presidential nominee John Kerry has a tarnished record on Yucca Mountain.

The 30-second spot shows a close-up of Kerry speaking plainly to the audience:

"When you hear George Bush attack me, I want you to keep something in mind. Four years ago, he promised to keep a nuclear waste dump out of Nevada and then went back on his word.

"As president, I will oppose turning Nevada into a nuclear dump site. It's wrong. It's dangerous. And I will not let it happen."

This ad comes just two days after the Bush-Cheney campaign launched its own Yucca Mountain ad pointing out that Kerry voted for the 1987 "Screw Nevada" bill that singled out Nevada as the only site to be studied for the project.

Kerry came out in support of a geologic repository several other times, as well, the ad points out.

Democrats have reacted strongly to the ad, saying Kerry has made an absolute promise to stop the Yucca Mountain site.

On Wednesday, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said it was time to set the record straight on Kerry's Yucca position. He compared the issue to the questions over Kerry's service in the Vietnam War, saying that Republicans are trying to muddy issues where Kerry has compelling arguments.

"They have tried their best to confuse the issue," he said, saying that Kerry voted with him on Yucca Mountain issues every time Reid asked him to.

Yet even the Kerry ad isn't entirely accurate. Bush has never specifically promised to keep a nuclear waste dump out of Nevada, as Kerry's ad charges.

While campaigning in Nevada in the 2000 election, Bush issued a release saying he believed that "sound science, not politics, must prevail in the designation of any high-level nuclear waste repository."

"As president, I would not sign legislation that would send nuclear waste to any proposed site unless it's been deemed scientifically safe," he wrote. "I also believe the federal government must work with the local and state governments that will be affected to address safety and transportation issues."

Bush reaffirmed his commitment to "sound science, not politics," while visiting Las Vegas several weeks ago.

Another ad, paid for by Moveon.org, also charges that Bush promised to stop nuclear waste in Nevada.

Despite the conflicting stories, Reid said the Nevada public doesn't have much to be confused about.

"This is an issue that shouldn't be very confusing," Reid said. "One guy is with us and one guy is against us."

He said he called Kerry's campaign to encourage them to run an ad to counter the Bush ad. Kerry's Nevada spokesman, Sean Smith, said Kerry had already taped footage in case the campaign needed it.

On Wednesday, former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, now the chairman of the Bush-Cheney campaign, said Kerry has made it "inescapable" to discuss his voting record on Yucca Mountain.

"What is a fundamental element leadership? Whether or not you can articulate a position in a principle fashion and stay consistently dedicated to a steady course, or is it such that you simply mutate change and form your opinion to the circumstances that exist at the moment?" Racicot said.

"(Kerry's) record reveals that in fact he was on the opposite side of that particular issue until such time he became a presidential candidate," he said. "Well, what does that say about his character and his capacity to lead? That makes it relevant."

Racicot said the people of Nevada understand the Yucca issue and will "make a very careful, a very precise judgment" in November.

"It is a difficult issue, but you know I believe the people of Nevada understand it very precisely, and they know when people are being opportunistic and they know when people have positions that are fluid and are an effort to ingratiate support rather than principle and I trust they will be able to differentiate on that basis."