2006 Campaign Ad Watch

[Adlai Stevenson]

Having seen more of Mfume on YouTube I believe he is a better candidate than I realised.  He speaks with motivation and emotion.  I think his life has probably given him more experience than many other politicians elected today; I hereby endorse Kweisi Mfume for U.S. Senator from Maryland (for the little its worth).

[Adlai Stevenson]

I suppose thats a fair enough point.  I'll admit my views have changed on Mfume.  At one point I saw him as a dangerous, partisan firebrand who would give the election to Steele - thats probably the view you hold of him.  However, having seen his ads and learned more about him I think he should be a good member of the Senate.  Polling has shown he can win, but it will be more of a harder battle than Cardin would face against Steele I assume.

[Adlai Stevenson]

I suppose the Bell is not bad, but to be honest it doesn't sound like he has a lot to campaign on.  In fact I'm surprised he has an ad out at all.

[Adlai Stevenson]

The Casey ad is genuinely moving even if it is obviously saccharine it works. 

[Adlai Stevenson]

The DeWine ad is priceless, I bet this will be remembered beyond 2006. 

[Adlai Stevenson]

Will he be there with an unselfish that respects you? LOL

[Adlai Stevenson]

To be honest I'm just pleased to see Menendez doing anything to stay competetive so yes I'll agree its a good ad.  I think Kean is actually quite a weak candidate when exposed or forced to confront the issues.  In all likelihood if it weren't for the Menendez scandals he would not be ahead, and I still think New Jersey is not going to elect him. 

[Adlai Stevenson]

The Ford campaign are doing an amazing job; they've caught a sudden wind and are just running with it.  I am seriously beginning to think Ford might just win.  His ads are terrific. 

[Adlai Stevenson]

http://claireonline.com/multimedia/ads/Protect.jsp

Claires Best Ad

http://claireonline.com/multimedia/ads/FamilyStyle.jsp

Claires Worst Ad

There not there?

[Adlai Stevenson]

Another great Ford ad.  I think that whoever is behind Ford's campaign definitely has a future in Democratic politics.

[Adlai Stevenson]

The DSCC website has all the latest Democratic ads on it. 
http://www.dscc.org/index_home.html

[Adlai Stevenson]

Actually, I thought Steele's ad was a bit whiny in its content, though not in his delivery.  While the affronts he described were wrong, they're old news and not directly Cardin's doing, but rather of some rouge Democrats and misguided workers who were quickly dumped.  And if Steele is such an independent thinker how come he couldn't come up with any examples of such thought?  The only content I took from this was "I'm a victim, some people picked on me."  Uhhh...how about discussing how you'll vote?

Cardin's ad was good, though the camera movements (zooming in on people) made me a bit motion-fatigued.

Yeah, I think his campaign is running out of steam.  I read in the Post the other day that the Nat'l GOP is abandoning him, Mehlman wont return his calls, etc.

The line in his ad that really irks me is the 'Cardin team stole my credit report and ss number'.  As you said, that was a couple of DSCC workers who were fired immediately and plead no contest.  At the time of the incident there was no Team Cardin/DSCC or Team Mfume/DSCC.  They were working independently.

Ken Melhman's an idiot.  Maryland and New Jersey are the best chances the GOP have and Steele is a far more effective candidate than Kean is.  I thought both ads were good.  Cardin's was quite effective and will probably please people while Steele's was still quite clever and delivered essentially what he is trying to convey; the Cardin's been in office for 40 years line was pretty sharp. 

[Adlai Stevenson]

Interesting.  I was going to mention Mehlman came from Maryland as well.  In a way the fact that the RSCC isn't concentrating on the race reinforces my hope; I was briefly worried about Steele.  If I was the Chairman of the RNC I would still spend moderate amounts on attacking Maryland and New Jersey and possibly even Washington.  I would defend as of primary concern: Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Montana and Arizona. 

[Adlai Stevenson]

The Klobuchar ad is very good at the end.  I bet Kennedy will regret seeing that. 

[Adlai Stevenson]

Terrible ad IMO; the old men just appear nascent and unpleasant.  Also, there not even Southern accents but this strange raspy kind of tone - and what was the point of it? 

[Adlai Stevenson]

Tester's response to Burns' attack ad - Patriot Act

A really good ad; Tester is becoming such an inspiring candidate and I think he'll make a great Senator.

[Adlai Stevenson]

The Pete Ricketts campaign messed up their chances to attack Nelson on a quite important and legitimate issue.  That ad was annoying and unclear.

[Adlai Stevenson]

DeWine Wasn't There is a pretty effective and forceful ad for a candidate like Brown to run.  Its actually very compelling and reminiscent of Republican tactics in the past; I don't particularly like ads like that but I enjoy seeing them being used against the GOP who started them in the first place. 

Also, the DSCC ad running in Tennessee 'Silver Platter' isn't bad - but constantly attacking Corker as a rich businessman isn't a great winning strategy in a prosperous, hi-tech state like Tennessee.  Not too much anyway.  I suppose it might play well with blue collar white voters who Ford is trying to attract. 

[Adlai Stevenson]

The DSCC's new ad in Virginia isn't bad, and to be honest I'm just glad that Webb is having more money spent for him.

http://www.dscc.org/index_home.html

[Adlai Stevenson]

Bush



September Fund, their goal has been to raise about $20 million for their efforts. This ad will be aired on CNN in about a dozen congressional districts. They did a bunch of ads, tested them in suburban/exurban Philly and Columbus, and this one topped them all amongst infrequent Democratic voters and swing voters.

This ad is really good. 

[Adlai Stevenson]

Thought I'd bump up this thread; it was buried on page five.

New Steele Ad:
http://www.steeleformaryland.com/benTVad.htm

And a candidate who took large amounts of money from the Bush administration and the national GOP is going to change Washington?  Riiiiight.

If this is the territory Steele wants to play on, then Cardin should welcome it.  I'm sure Steele has gotten cash from Big Pharma and Big Oil, not to mention the various conservative/GOP interest groups who don't give to Cardin.

The Steele ad is good though, it actually raises doubts in my mind about Cardin and its true enough to say that he'll 'Fit Right In' in Washington.  I don't support Steele but I think he is an inspiring candidate running an energetic campaign. 

[Adlai Stevenson]

New ads from the Ohio, New Jersey and Tennessee Senate races paid for by the DSCC can be seen here.  They're all pretty good this time; Brown appeals to the middle class about education, Menendez hits Kean, Jr. hard on Iraq and Ford has a smooth ad against Corker's support for 'staying the course'.

http://www.dscc.org/index_home.html

[Adlai Stevenson]

The Santorum ads are pretty good and innovative I have to admit; Ford's comeback is excellent and gives me renewed hope about Tennessee and the Stem Cell Research and Stay the Course DSCC ads were truely brilliant and moving. 

[Adlai Stevenson]

The DSCC has released four hardhitting new ads, two from Virginia attacking Allen which I think they are the weakest of the four.  The Ohio one 'If you're happy and you know it clap your hands' is powerful in appealing to the economic woes of middle class voters.  Finally, the DSCC is countering the RNC's controversial attack ad on Ford with Corker's incompetence as Mayor of Chattanooga and the 911 calls.  Good to see the Democrats are fighting back:

http://www.dscc.org/index_home.html

The DSCC also has two new ads today running in Missouri.  'Values' and 'Jobs' attack Talent for voting for legislation that would send jobs overseas, with Missouri having lost 60,000 manuafacturing jobs since 2000.  The ads are solid but McCaskill's ads aren't as good as Ford's or Brown's. 

http://www.dscc.org/news/roundup/20061028_moads/index.htm

[Adlai Stevenson]

New DSCC ads from Virginia, Arizona and New Jersey:

http://www.dscc.org/

The ad attacking Allen is quite effective - it uses newspaper quotes to condemn his record in the Senate, on Iraq, on racial issues and even attacks him as a big government spender but it essentially makes the same case against him as the other ads have: he voted 96% of the time with GWB. 

The ad running in Arizona begins well with Bush endorsing Kyl but is less good than the Virginia ad; it attacks Kyl on voting with Bush 97% of the time and taking money from big oil. 

Finally, the DSCC's New Jersey ad is good - attacking Tom Kean, Jr. and saying 'Bush has his eye on New Jersey'.  I think I've seen very few positive ads from the DSCC.