BY HOWARD WILKINSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Democratic congressional candidate Roxanne Qualls' second campaign commercial calls for holding on to federal budget surpluses until Congress comes up with a plan for saving Social Security.
It is an issue on which the Cincinnati mayor is miles apart from her opponent in the 1st Congressional District, Republican incumbent Steve Chabot. He favors the congressional GOP leadership's plan to use much of the surplus for $70 billion to $80 billion in tax cuts over the next five years.
House and Senate GOP leaders have also said that, in addition to tax cuts, part of the surplus should be used to shore up the Social Security system.
"Until Congress acts to guarantee that Social Security will survive, the budget surplus shouldn't be used for either new programs or untargeted tax cuts," Ms. Qualls said at a press conference Monday, where she unveiled the new 30-second ad. "There is a clear difference between me and Steve Chabot on this."
Ms. Qualls' position on what to do with the budget surplus is directly in line with what President Clinton outlined in his State of the Union address earlier this year.
The campaign ad has the same kind of "family" theme as a recent Chabot ad that featured Mr. Chabot, his wife and children.
Ms. Qualls is unmarried, but in the ad, she is looking through a family photo album and viewers see a photo of her as a child. It also features a picture of Ms. Qualls' mother, who lives in Northern Kentucky. The candidate says in the ad that she wants Social Security to be protected for her mother and for her young nephew.
The Democratic candidate said Monday all the campaign commercials her campaign will air in the next seven weeks "will deal with issues, not negative attacks."
The controversy surrounding President Clinton, Ms. Qualls said, is making it more difficult for her to "get our message out." Mr. Clinton is coming to Cincinnati for a Democratic fund-raiser Thursday, and Ms. Qualls has said she will attend.
"Clearly, the delivery of the Starr report and the commotion swirling around it continue to be a distraction," Ms. Qualls said. "But we are going to try to keep this focused on issues that matter to people."
