BY HOWARD WILKINSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The first round of TV ads in the 1st Congressional District race is an object lesson in campaign role reversal.
Usually, challengers start by attacking the record of the incumbent. But in the closely watched 1st District, incumbent Republican Steve Chabot has launched his TV ad war by criticizing Democratic challenger Roxanne Qualls on taxes and abortion.
The Chabot ad began running late last week, and by Monday, the Qualls campaign answered with a commercial in which the Cincinnati mayor does not mention Mr. Chabot but promises she won't be making negative personal attacks.
The Chabot campaign insists that the current ad is not an "attack" ad, but a "comparison" ad.
"We are just trying to show that there is a huge difference on the issues between Steve Chabot and Roxanne Qualls," said Chabot campaign manager Shannon Walker Jones.
With pictures of Mr. Chabot and Ms. Qualls on the screen, the announcer on the Chabot ad says that Mr. Chabot "thinks taxes are too high. But Roxanne Qualls doesn't. She opposes the broad tax relief plan that Steve Chabot supports."
Ms. Jones said Ms. Qualls opposes Mr. Chabot's call to use the current federal budget surplus for tax relief.
Qualls campaign officials say she favors President Clinton's plan to reserve the surplus until there is a fix for the Social Security system.
Once Social Security is stabilized, Ms. Qualls would support targeted tax cuts for working families, similar to what the Clinton administration has proposed, said Qualls campaign spokeswoman Beth Davidson.
The Chabot ad also says that Mr. Chabot "wants to end those horrible partial-birth abortions. But Roxanne Qualls wants to allow what doctors call bad medicine."
In a written statement, Ms. Qualls, who has been a consistent supporter of abortion rights, said she believes "this is a decision that should be between a woman, her physician and her family." She said she would vote for a ban on late-term abortions only "if it contains a provision to protect the life and health of the mother."
In the 30-second Qualls ad, she said she plans a campaign that focuses on issues, not "negative campaigning."
"You'll be seeing a lot of political commercials," the Cincinnati mayor said, seated on a TV set and speaking directly into the camera. "I've always believed campaigns are about issues -- not negative personal attacks."
Ms. Qualls says her campaign will be about "you and your families -- about making our schools safer and better, about saving Social Security and about making this community an even better place to live."
Ms. Jones said the Qualls ad, which will run through Sunday, "is perplexing. She says she wants to talk about issues, but then she doesn't say anything about what she believes."
The Chabot and Qualls ads are merely the first in what will be a string of commercials to run between now and the Nov. 3 election. Each campaign is expected to spend at least $1 million, most of it on TV advertising. In addition, special-interest groups are expected to spend several hundred thousand dollars in the 1st District on TV ads attacking one candidate or the other.
So far, the special-interest group money has been spent by groups that back Ms. Qualls. The Sierra Club is running ads attacking Mr. Chabot on environmental issues, and the AFL-CIO has run an ad telling 1st District voters that he did not support the Clinton administration's "Patient's Bill of Rights."
