The good news: More campaign commercials make those Furniture Fair ads starring Anthony Munoz and Ed Hartman seem clever.

The bad news: The air war in the 2003 Cincinnati City Council race begins in earnest this week, with opening salvos in what promises to become a wall-to-wall carpet-bombing campaign by Nov. 4.

Monday, Democrat Alicia Reece begins an ad reprising her role as a boxer from 2001. But this time she also underscores her incumbency, showing three excerpts from her July 25 speech on the floor of City Council opposing the city's $52 million subsidy for Convergys Corp.

"I don't say one thing out in the neighborhoods and another thing in council chambers," Reece said, explaining the ad.

"Had enough" is the theme of Republican Sam Malone's ad, which begins today. It begins with footage from the 2001 riots.

"I've had enough of boycotts, riots, runaway crime," he said. "I'll work to put more police and firefighters on our streets, stop payoffs to special interest groups and bring Cincinnati together again."

He did not say who those "special interests" are. True to the GOP formula, it hits hard on issues of crime and ignores Malone's workforce development platform. "After we look at safety, then we can deal with the workforce piece," he said.