Negative Campaigner Seeks Clinton Tape

The maker of the notorious Willie Horton ad that rocked the 1988 presidential race on Monday asked a federal judge to release President Clinton’s videotaped Whitewater testimony, prompting an angry White House response.

“Tell him to go back and crawl back under the rock that he came from,” White House spokesman Mike McCurry said when asked about Floyd Brown’s request for the videotape. ‘

Last week District Judge George Howard Jr. rejected the request for its immediate release, saying it would be unfair to force defense attorneys to deal with a side issue while the trial was winding up.

In 1988, Brown produced an ad about Horton, a convicted murderer who raped a woman while on furlough from a Massachusetts prison. The ad blamed then-Gov. Michael Dukakis for Horton’s release, damaging Dukakis presidential campaign and setting a new benchmark for negative political campaigning.