Inside Report (3)

Move over Madison Avenue

The political ad with the smiling postman, which has the GOP grinning and the Democrats up in arms, isn't the work of a high-priced New York ad firm. It's the work of Carroll Campbell, Republican congressman from South Carolina. The ad shows the postman singing the Reagan administration's praises for July's social security cost-of-living increase. Carroll wrote the script and footed the $40, 000 bill for the ad, which originally was designed to help other GOP candidates in his state. It took seven days to put together. The Republican National Committee, not overly thrilled with the old Carter look-alike ads, saw the commercial, liked it, and began airing it nationally.

Carroll' seven-day wonder stands in stark contrast to the RNC's approach to ads - six weeks and $100,000 from conception to testing.