HARLESTON, S.C. - Senator John McCain, who launched an aggressive advertising blitz here after his overwhelming victory in the New Hampshire primary, announced yesterday he would yank all unfavorable advertising about his opponent and asked Governor George W. Bush to do the same.
Bush declined. He defended his ads as crucial to rebutting allegations made by McCain and said that unlike McCain's ads, his were not really negative. Bush's refusal all but guaranteed a new phase in the debate in the South Carolina primary: Which candidate is saying more negative things about the other?
McCain aides said he arrived at the decision after hearing from a local woman whose 14-year-old son received a ''push poll,'' in which someone masquerading as a pollster said derogatory things about McCain.
''We will put up positive ads. We will run no attack, response, or any other kind of negative advertising for the rest of this campaign,'' McCain said while campaigning in New York City. ''I'd like to encourage Governor Bush to do the same thing. I hope that he will recognize the damage that this kind of thing does to the electorate.''
McCain has run several ads pointing out policy differences with Bush, but by far his most controversial was the so-called ''handshake'' ad, which challenged the Texas governor's integrity and compared him to President Clinton, asking, ''Do we really want another politician in the White House we can't trust?''
That ad, as well as another McCain ad rebutting a Bush ad, ended yesterday, leaving only one McCain ad, ''Courage,'' on the air.
Bush, whose television and radio spots mention McCain in subtler terms, refused to commit to pulling his own ads. And he called McCain's announcement an ''old Washington trick,'' one that allowed McCain to run the ad for weeks and still claim goodwill by yanking it at the last minute.
''It's a bait-and-switch trick,'' Bush said. ''He runs ads for 18 days defining me as something I'm not, and then, all the sudden, says, `OK, let's all quit.' I'm going to make sure that people understand exactly what I believe and where I stand.''
Bush yesterday released a new ad called ''Integrity,'' in which he rebuts one of the ads McCain pulled from the air yesterday. In the new ad, Bush accuses McCain of reckless campaigning with the earlier ad.
''Politics is tough, but when John McCain compared me to Bill Clinton and said I was untrustworthy, that's over the line,'' Bush says in the 30-second spot. ''Disagree with me, fine, but do not challenge my integrity.''
As for his own ads - which include one showing a clip from the Wall Street Journal that says the McCain campaign is ''crawling with lobbyists'' - Bush said he had everything to gain by leaving them on the air. ''My ads aren't negative,'' Bush said. ''My ads are to make sure that I clarify exactly who I am and what I believe.''
Bush aides also expressed skepticism at McCain's expressed reason for the decision. ''I think it's entirely possible Senator McCain's ads boomeranged back and hurt him,'' Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer said.
The advertising back and forth, which became the focal point of the Republican primary in recent days as the debate over issues fell by the wayside, was matched by new allegations from the Bush campaign about McCain's record.
For the fourth day in a row, Bush rolled out a new charge. McCain, he said, had ''passed the plate'' to special interest lobbyists at a fund-raiser in New York the night before, wiping out his claim as the reform candidate.
''I can just hear him now: Give 'em hell, and pass the hors d'oeuvres,'' Bush said.
McCain spokesman Howard Opinsky responded, ''I call it the attack du jour. Governor Bush's special-interest and lobbyist-powered campaign can easily spot Washington insiders because they have all been hosts to his campaign events and make up his $100,000 Pioneer Club.''
