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Welcome To 2010: The Ad Wars To Come

By Michael Scherer | @michaelscherer | January 12, 2010 | +

This is the playbook: Democrats go populist (drug companies, Wall Street, the rich) while Republicans rail against the “machine.” The latest ads from Massachusetts:

Scott Brown’s response to Martha Coakley after the jump.

Now imagine that you are not a partisan. Like most of the undecided, you don’t care much for politics, are annoyed by both parties, are unhappy with way things are going, hate that the Patriots lost and still don’t know whom to vote for. These ads interrupt your local news. Which way do they push you?

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  • sacredh

    They push me into an act of uncontrolled violence against the Teletubbies. God, I hate them. I’m just looking for an excuse to beat the stuffing out of the pear shaped bastards.

  • http://randomkirk.wordpress.com randomkirk

    If you pick up on the code words Brown uses, “independent voters”, it’s obvious who he is counting on to win this election. As for Coakley, there is something disingenuous about a candidate taking out an ad telling me what the other guy is going to do. How do they know? Why aren’t they telling me what THEY’RE going to do?

    I’m not in MA, so I don’t know much about the candidates. From what I’ve been reading, Scott Brown is putting a real scare into Coakley and the Dems. I can see why. I’d go with Brown…”What can Brown do for you?”

  • http://randomkirk.wordpress.com randomkirk

    If they use that slogan, I expect a royalty. Oh…wait! UPS rings a bell!

  • sacredh

    randomkirk: You may have a valid point. I live in a tri-state area (Ohio, Pennsylvania and WV). During the 2008 election almost all of the ads for McCain/Palin focused on what Obama would do, not what they would do. They lost all but WV. I still think Coakley will win by a comfortable margin, but I agree that a candidate should focus on their own agenda.

  • jcapan

    The only thing more patently ridiculous than 2010 dems running on populism is seeing you and Joe Klein use the word.

  • Ivy_B

    Guess that wasn’t the one where he spelled Massachusetts wrong.

    I was so warmed by Brown’s sincerity and sweetness, I am really looking forward to seeing many more when I get to Boston on Thursday. Tuesday probably won’t be long enough to get my fill, I’ll have to see if I can change my reservations.

    Guess the 3 to 1 registration edge counts for nothing.

    If Coakley wins by a landslide will the headline be Dems pull out a squeaker? If Brown wins by a small margin, I already know that the headline will be how it shows the beginning of a Repub landslide.

  • rustyreturns

    Rather than “populist”, it seems that the Democrat Candidate, dear Martha (is she any relation to Martha Stewart by the way?) Coakley, it is more that they are now attempting to play the old Republican rules of attack, attack.
    .
    However this failed negative attack ad is not going to work this time because voter sentiments are running high right now for honesty, integrity and sound moral values, even in a Democrat controlled State like MA.
    .
    Coakley’s ad falls well short of meeting any of these messages to the voters who will be voting in the MA election.
    .
    The amazing thing is if Brown loses, it is a victory. In a State that is well beyond 3 to 1 Democrat that he is even being consider a potential threat is a victory. In a district that Brown represents that is also 60% Democrat, he still has won re-election. I for one have just sent my donation to Brown, simply out of sheer awe for what he has been able to accomplish.

  • spob

    Coakley is an unprincipled scum. Her fight to keep Gerald Amirault in prison is among the most vile things done by a pol in recent memory. It is amazing that anyone would vote for her.

  • stuartzechman

    Michael Scherer:

    Democrats go populist…

    That’s your daily recommended allowance of irony right there for what, the week? The month?
    .
    The year?
    .
    “Democrats go populist“?
    .
    What a sick joke.

  • http://fourlegsrgood.wordpress.com fourlegsgood

    How does Coakley know what Brown is going to do? because he’s been out in public saying exactly what he’s going to do.

    Good grief. I have a hard time believing that Massachusetts voters are going to put a conservative wanker like Brown, someone who is against everything that Teddy Kennedy stood for, in that Kennedy’s seat.

  • http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2010/01/17/on-abortion-democrats-roll-towards-gutter-in-massachusetts/ On Abortion, Democrats Roll Towards Gutter In Massachusetts – Swampland – TIME.com

    [...] –An ad by Coakley that flashes the words, “Deny rape victims care,” with a voiceover that announces, “Brown even favors letting hospitals deny emergency contraception to rape victims.” [...]

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