NEW YORK: The Republican Party has played up and reminded people of the differences that existed between presidential candidate Barack Obama and his once arch rival Hillary Clinton as the Democratic Party held its nomination convention in Denver.
The Grand Old Party ran two new advertisements on Internet and television and held a news conference with former Clinton supporters saying that they would back Republican candidate John McCain to express their resentment on Obama winning the nomination.
It is yet unclear how much effect would it have on the voters but the New York Times said that proliferation of media and bitter partisan politics has helped create opportunities to spread negative message during nomination convention.
It is possible, analysts say, Democrats might pay back Republican in the same coin.
The Times said Republicans also planned a "Happy Hour for Hillary" cocktail party as Democrats leadership expressed full confidence that Clinton is fully backing Obama.
Matt McDonald, a senior aide overseeing the Republican effort, told the Times that he was "pleasantly surprised" by the party's success in inserting itself into the biggest week of the Obama campaign. "Any time we can get our side of the story out," McDonald said, "that's a good thing."
Hours after Obama had chosen Joe Biden, the McCain team was ready with a spot featuring Biden's critiques of Obama, and it was played over and over on cable and Internet sites.
McCain's team, the Times said, quickly worked the phones, calling reporters covering Obama's first appearance alongside Biden in Springfield to highlight the McCain campaign's taunt that Obama's mistaken reference to Biden as "the next president" was "a Freudian slip."
That sort of success carried into the convention hall on Monday, when Nicolle Wallace, a senior McCain aide, gave a round of cable news interviews criticising Obama as "not ready" with the Democrats' elaborate convention stage as a backdrop, the Times said.
