Anti-Trump Olympics

Clinton takes anti-Trump Olympics strategy into NFL season

The Democrat's team is poised to spend millions as it braces for a wave of negative ads from her opponent.

By Annie Karni

During the Rio Olympics, Hillary Clinton tweeted about the athletes 21 times, posted Instagram photos celebrating gymnast Simone Biles and fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad, referenced swimmer Michael Phelps in her stump speech, and spent about $10 million on commercials.

Donald Trump ignored the games.

It was an unforced error that ceded a 27.5-million-person audience to the Democratic nominee and poll leader that she used to drive home the dual narrative that America is already great and that Trump’s business background is not the American success story he claims.

“For people who are not plugged in, their first interaction with the candidates was at the conventions,” said Republican ad maker Will Ritter, who worked for Mitt Romney’s campaign. “The second time they check in with the election, it's these Hillary Clinton ads during the Olympics. There are only a few chances to get the independents who are undoubtedly around the TV with their families cheering on the United States.”

Now, another one of those rare opportunities to reach millions of potential voters opens in September with the start of NFL season. Unlike the summer Olympics, Clinton allies are preparing for what they expect will be an onslaught of negative Trump ads during Monday Night Football – reflecting the addition of far-right, conspiracy theorists to his team. That advertising will be met with a combination of anti-Trump ads from the super PAC backing Clinton, and likely with campaign ads, too.

“Just like the Olympics, we will be airing ads during NFL games,” said Justin Barasky, a spokesman for Priorities USA.

The PAC has not yet spent the bulk of the $160 million it placed in ad reservations months ago. The Clinton campaign on Monday also announced it was reserving another $80 million in commercials through November in battleground states.

Both efforts are expected to build on the economic case at the heart of the ads launched during the Olympics, one that’s critical for Clinton’s team to get right; the Democrat’s internal polling shows that while voters are quicker to believe Trump doesn’t have the judgment or temperament to handle the nuclear codes, many still view him as a successful businessman despite Clinton’s attempts to discredit him.

The vehicle for this message during the summer games was a negative ad based on a 2012 David Letterman clip, in which the television host calls out a visibly uncomfortable Trump for manufacturing his branded shirts and ties in countries like Bangladesh and China.

The ad notes that Trump outsourced jobs to eight countries and leaves viewers with a skeptical question: “Make America Great Again?” The second ad was a positive spot touting Clinton’s plan to make big corporations pay their fair share of taxes, and imposing an exit tax on companies that move overseas.

Clinton officials described the Olympic ad strategy as an outgrowth of its organizing mantra of meeting voters where they are -- in the past two weeks that happened to be watching and thinking about the Olympics. Rio had an average of 27.5 million viewers during prime time, according to NBC, compared to 30.3 million during the London Olympics in 2012. The Clinton campaign wanted to build on the positive message coming out of a well-choreographed convention, and hammer Trump on the economy in front of the biggest audience money could buy -- with the goal of winning the presidential race before Labor Day.

“It doesn’t surprise me that Donald Trump wouldn’t tweet or comment on the Olympics because it runs counter to his false narrative that America never wins,” said Guy Cecil, chief strategist of Priorities USA, the super PAC backing Clinton.

Cecil, whose independent group also poured millions of dollars into Trump attack ads that aired during the Olympics, said the international games were a particularly effective platform for Clinton. “There are few opportunities over the summer to reach such a large, diverse broadcast audience,” he said. “It’s especially powerful when Donald Trump’s message is in such stark contrast to the huge successes of American athletes.”

It’s certainly not that the Olympics haven’t won Trump’s attention before.

As a private citizen, he was a fan. “@MichaelPhelps -- you are the greatest Olympic champion of them all. Fantastic job!” he wrote to the swimmer during the 2012 Olympics in London.

Two years later, as he contemplated a run for the White House, his take was negative. During the 2014 winter Olympics in Sochi, he tweeted: “Russia beat the United States in the Olympics-another Obama embarrassment! Isn't it time that we turn things around and start kicking ass?”

This year, even Ivanka Trump, the feel-good face of her father’s organization, ignored the medalists. Her only reference online to the athletes was a tweet of what she called an “inspiring story” of two competing track runners who helped each other up after a painful collision.

Trump may not have noticed the athletes, but he did notice the barrage of negative ads Clinton was running against him throughout the games. “Crooked Hillary is flooding the airwaves with false and misleading ads," he tweeted Sunday night, as Rio staged the closing ceremonies of the games. "All paid for by her bosses on Wall Street. Media is protecting her!”

When asked for a comment Monday about the American gold medalists, Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said, simply, “We will pass on this.”

Clinton’s team is trying to leverage its Olympics success for the final stretch of the 2016 campaign in another way — enlisting athletes as surrogates. Over the last two weeks, former Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan, now in the job of surrogate outreach director, headlined rallies and made television appearances for the Democratic nominee. “In some interviews, they didn’t ask about the Olympics —all they wanted to talk about was the campaign,” Kwan told POLITICO.

Already, she has helped bring former Olympic athletes on board, including skier Gus Kenworthy – the first openly gay man in his sport -- who posted an essay last week on the campaign’s website explaining his support for Clinton; and two-time gold medalist Abby Wambach, the soccer player who has stumped for Clinton in New Hampshire.

“We have been reaching out and identifying athletes who have tweeted before, or taken a picture, or used the hashtag #ImWithHer,” Kwan said. “We’re strategizing about being able to get more people involved in the coming days.”