Television: Electronic Politics: The Image Game

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Down-Home Impression. In Tennessee, the stakes are high. Democratic Senator Albert Gore, a leading dove, is one of Nixon's prime targets, and he trails in the race. Treleaven is attacking: directly or indirectly, his spots for William Brock characterize Gore as remote from the people and the needs of the state, and as somehow connected with social unrest domestically because of his leading role in opposition to the war. To carry the attack, he has built a campaign around the announcement that "Bill Brock believes in the things you and I believe in." Brock is endorsed on film by ordinary citizens who describe his help with ordinary problems; he is shown hunting, a popular sport in Tennessee; and with his family, expressing in low key his desire for his children to grow up in "the kind of America we believe in."

Guggenheim is defending, not counterattacking. Scant mention is made in

Gore's films of his major interest in foreign affairs. The impression conveyed is that of down home. In one film, Gore actually rides on a white horse. His support of close-to-the-pocketbook issues, such as Social Security, Medicare and tax reductions, is stressed. In a spot that is Guggenheim at his best, Gore has just finished a game of checkers when he is confronted by an elderly man. The man reminds Gore that he voted for him six years ago and promised to do it again if he lived. "Here I am, Albert," the spot concludes.

Guggenheim will have an easier time in Michigan, where Democratic Senator Philip Hart is ahead and has all the image he needs. To maintain it, Guggenheim shot 200 hours of film showing Hart at work in Washington and talking to the voters at home. Treleaven's problem is to establish Lenore Romney as a personality independent of husband George. He is trying to make the best of adversity by using only her first name on billboards, bumper stickers and television.

The Guggenheim method is cinema verite, edited to the point where critics could claim that it is more cinema than verite. He employs dramatic camera techniques and will shoot miles of film to get the few dozen feet he wants, then spend two weeks editing what took two days to shoot. He insists that his films do not change the candidate: "With any candidate, you maximize his assets, ignore his liabilities." Often he will sit off-camera, asking his candidate questions that did not get properly asked, or answered, the first time.

Guggenheim has adopted one method of the men he works for. When he takes on a candidate, he sends two advance men (in this case, women), who take a preliminary political reading before he takes his own. His camera crews are freelancers but work regularly for him. At the end, he will take his reels of film back to his spartan headquarters in Washington, where, with the help of a staff that numbers about 30 at campaign time, he does his editing. He also does his own writing. A recurring theme is the candidate who "cares."