Down and dirty

Although the date for local government elections hasn't yet been set, the campaign is gaining speed. The political antagonists are pulling out the big guns and Civic Platform (PO) was the first to strike.

Two weeks ago the party launched a TV ad. It shows a young woman sitting in front of a television. She flicks through the channels and on every one she sees Jarosław Kaczyński shouting about not giving up power, screaming phrases like "We won't allow," "We will destroy," which causes a baby in the next room to start crying. Only after the woman finds PO leader Donald Tusk on a different channel does peace and quiet return to the household.

The ad came as a surprise, as PO waged a peaceful, policy-based campaign during last year's parliamentary elections. Many claim that its failure to respond to Law and Justice's (PiS) skillful attacks cost it victory. "Still today, voters accost me on the streets asking why we didn't react when Law and Justice was running their black PR campaign, and why we haven't done anything since. So now we're responding," says PO's candidate for the Warsaw presidency, Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz. "This is the hard reality - people choose emotions and not reasonable arguments and this is our answer," she added.

As expected, it didn't take long for PiS' slick campaign managers to respond. In its ad, a family is renovating their house, pulling down wallpaper, throwing out old furniture and painting the walls. The commentary talks about "renovating the Polish home." At the same time a TV shows PO's Jan Rokita and Donald Tusk saying: "We protest," "We won't support this bill." The final commentary is "Law and Justice - please do not disturb."

PO has already announced that it will respond to this ad. No doubt PiS' campaign managers will have an answer up their sleeve.