Bass, Hodes have no say in attack ads

National party committees are now targeting money at the 2nd District congressional race between Republican Charlie Bass and Democrat Paul Hodes with new television attack ads.

The National Republican Congressional Committee's ad brands Hodes a "liberal" and says his lack of support for the Bush tax cuts would result in higher income taxes, a reduced child tax credit, the return of the marriage penalty and the estate tax.

"They're treating him as if he was just going to roll back the whole package," Hodes spokesman Reid Cherlin said. "It's just a lie."

Meanwhile, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ad says Bass voted eight times to raise his congressional salary and also voted to add to the national debt.

These are two attack ads among a growing number, but in this case, neither local campaign had a say in the content.

In the Democratic ad, Bass's votes were not specifically to raise his salary but against motions that could have led to a rejection of the automatic cost-of-living increases. The cost-of-living increases have raised congressional salaries by $3,000 to $5,000 a year since 1999. Bass's votes on the national debt were related to raising the allowable debt limits in 2002 and 2004.

"The DCCC is more interested in partisan politics than a meaningful debate on the issues," the Bass campaign said in a statement yesterday.

It said Bass has voted to block congressional pay raises in 1995, 1996 and 1998.

As for the vote to raise the debt limit, the Bass campaign said that's not the equivalent of raising the national debt.

"Just as increasing an individual's credit card limit does not constitute an increase in the credit car debt, likewise these votes did not increase the national debt," the statement says.

The Republican ad against Hodes does not acknowledge that Hodes has proposed ending the Bush tax cuts for only the top 2 percent of the income bracket - individuals earning roughly $250,000 or more. He opposes reductions to the child tax credit and would not reinstate the so-called "marriage penalty" that had some married couples paying higher taxes than unmarried ones, Cherlin said.

Hodes supports the Republican-led plan to increase the assets that are exempt from the estate tax when a person dies from $2 million per person to $3.5 million by 2009.

Cherlin complained that ads have repeatedly misprepresented Hodes's position on the Bush tax cuts.

"He does not support raising taxes on the middle class or rolling back tax relief on the middle class. It's that simple," he said.

Alex Burgos, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, defended the accuracy of the ad by pointing to a New Hampshire Union Leader article from 2004 that mentions Hodes's opposition to the Bush tax cuts.

However, the article indicates Hodes is rejecting only tax relief given to the wealthiest.

Cherlin said he is less upset by the Republican use of the "liberal" label, saying that it's a blatant effort to scare people and that he doesn't expect it to have much success.

"People in New Hampshire largely vote on their feelings about how a candidate is going to stand up for them in Washington. It's not a state that pays a lot of attention to labels," he said.

By ANNE SAUNDERS

The Associated Press