In a new ad released Tuesday, Mitt Romney charges that the Obama Administration has returned to “plain old welfare” by dropping work requirements passed in 1996 under Bill Clinton. The ad focuses on a July 12 directive from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which informed states that it will issue waivers for those …
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Negative Ads: A Shift in Tone for the 2012 Campaign
With only 16 weeks until the November election, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are on track to fuel one of most negative presidential campaigns in recent history — whether voters want it or not. According to Kantar Media, which tracks political advertising, 89% of Obama’s ads in recent weeks featured an anti-Romney message, while 94% …
It’s That Time Again When a Candidate Films Himself Shooting Stuff
Ron Gould, who’s running for Congress in Arizona’s 4th, joins the proud tradition of aspiring public officials who demonstrate their love of democracy by blasting things to smithereens:
[youtube=http://youtu.be/NLAirystfdY]
Joe Coors Is Not a Beer, May Be a Witch
Another great innovation in political advertising, which we can credit to Fred Davis. The I-Am-Not-A-Blank Ad. Joe Coors, heir to the eponymous beer brand in Colorado, delivers this first ad in his congressional race:
[youtube=http://youtu.be/r6OVvs2Ft98]
The problem with the Not-A strategy is that it raises all sorts of questions. …
The Fact Checking Fun House: Crossroads GPS vs. Team Obama
Have you seen the latest Crossroads GPS fact check of the Obama Campaign fact check of a Crossroads GPS ad that relies on a fact check by Politifact, but fails to point out that Politifact called the same ad “mostly false”?
No? Well, then. You have come to the right place. Though we must caution: If you continue reading this post, you …
Crossroads, Super PACs and the Incumbent Advertising Gap
In a recent piece about the Obama-Romney ad wars, Michael Scherer made the smart point that this election is different from past ones in that the incumbent no longer gets a free hit on his rival during the period immediately following the primary. The reason: super PACs have the cash to cover that gap while the challenger collects enough …
Roland Sledge Opens Ridiculous Ad Season With Man Peeing on Electric Fence
[youtube=http://youtu.be/wCpBibIt10o]
Someone had to go first, so why not Texas oilman (natch) Rolly Sledge, who’s running for Human Game Commissioner (OK, Railroad Commissioner) in the Lone Star State? In an effort to promote a candidacy with zero national importance, Sledge has followed trail blazers like Frankenstein’s coroner and …
Old Photo of Mitt ‘Rainmaker’ Romney Used Pretty Much How You Figured It Would Be
The Obama-backing super PAC Priorities USA Action breaks out this picture from an old Bain Capital brochure to field test its general election munitions:
[youtube=http://youtu.be/6Vzg9CsqLQA]
Campaign 2012, Where Old Media Is New Again
We live in the age of the iPhone, yet the 2012 presidential campaign has so far been run on Betamax. In the Republican primary, new media and mobile technologies are next to incidental, subsumed by a nostalgic embrace of a technology that was cutting edge in the 1960s: television.
Where Outside Spending Groups Can Go that Candidates Can’t
There have been quite a few TV ads run by Democrats in Michigan this past week criticizing Mitt Romney for opposing the 2009 auto-bailout. (Probably to limited effect in the primary.) This one from public worker union giant AFSCME, backed by a $360,000 buy, is probably the most effective. It also happens to be an ad that Barack Obama …
For Mitt Romney in Florida, It’s All About Character (Attacks)
Pompano Beach, Florida
A political riddle presents itself on the trail with Mitt Romney: Can a true man of character constantly attack the character of another man?
From the first introductions on Sunday, character was presented as the defining, most winning attribute of the former governor: Romney was touted as the candidate whose …
The Once and Future Front Runner: Why Romney Is Winning in Florida and What Comes Next
In a Republican-primary season marked by political chaos, here’s something that finally seems settled: Mitt Romney will win the Tuesday, Jan. 31, Florida primary. So say the latest public polls, several of which suggest Romney …
On Crazy People, the Cayman Islands and Why Democrats Are Taking Notes
The heavyweight tussle in Florida is quickly devolving into a very expensive slap fight. On one side is Mitt Romney, whose aides, having spent days tagging Newt Gingrich with labels like “erratic” and unreliable,” are now upping the ante by recasting Gingrich as a full-on crazy person. “UNHINGED!” read a Romney press release Thursday …