Look on the fright side: Scary ads spreading

Shriek Week 2010 has arrived with a vengeance.

How fitting is it that this election falls only two days after Halloween? Incumbents in general tremble at voter backlash. Democrats in particular say they fear their members will show up in numbers too small to match better-energized Republicans. The ghosts of last year's low-turnout losses in Nassau, Westchester and New Jersey send chills up the spines of some of the bigger party's players.

Scary ads from all sides seem to soak the airwaves more than usual, as if to spread a general sense of fear. Some bear messages so distorted and shrill that the dramatic voice-overs might as well be saying:

"Did you know John Doe looted the U.S. Treasury . . . wants to tax all chewing . . . likes al-Qaida. . . and has a secret plan to close the schools?"

"John Doe: Bad for New York. Bad for you. Bad for pets."

As absurd as it may sound, tacticians who requested anonymity said this style of ad can work. They insisted campaigns have good reason to choose the final week to go negative on air and in print - even if it sends many voters reaching for the mute button or the recycling bag.

Slippage: If polls show an incumbent's earlier support softening, he or she fights to make voters shun the alternative. The implication: "If you think I'm lousy, wait'll the other one takes over."

Turnout: This is a question mark even in an ordinary year. But the threat of a de facto boycott by armies of the despondent prompts operatives to sell any reason to get voters out. "All the good polls can mean absolutely nothing," said a seasoned Long Island Democrat. "Our side worries about turnout - in Suffolk, Westchester, Brooklyn, the Bronx and upstate."

Constraints: Ad budgets have already been set, and time slots bought. So it becomes harder in the final week for the attacked candidate to respond, explains one consultant, a Democrat. A Republican consultant adds, "It may take you two days or even a week to just deal with the issue that they're throwing at you."

Desperation:Sometimes a candidate trails so badly in polls that he has nothing to lose by hauling out every manner of allegation. Only if exposed in time will the least credible claims backfire - revealing the accuser to be reckless and truthless.

Attention span: Some people pay no attention until the final hours - and hear only the quick-and-dirty.