Desperate
Schwarzenegger is polling well ahead of Phil Angelides. A few months ago, they were tied. Of course, Ahnold has done this by becoming a Democrat, but a Governor's gotta do what a Governnor's gotta do.
I'm not surprised that Angelides can't gain traction, considering how lame his ads are. Ahnold's attack ads show us the bad things Phil'll do, such as tax us to death. Phil's attack ads simply show Ahnold supporting Bush and then remind us we have a lot of troops in Iraq, the national deficit is huge and gas prices are too high. What exactly is the governor of Cahlifohrnia supposed to do about these things? (If raise taxes is your answer, then Phil's your man.)
Speaking of gas prices, I was driving along Beverly Boulevard today and the Exxon station on Fairfax was selling gas at $2.85. A few weeks ago you couldn't get it anywhere near three bucks. But much stranger, about a mile farther, the Mobil station (Mobil and Exxon are the same corporation) at Cienaga was selling it as $3.23. I can't explain this discrepancy, nor can I figure out why anyone would buy gas at the latter.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:30 AM
2 Comments:
Its always fascinating to figure the philosophy of political ad campaigns. Whether or not they make policy sense is completely beside the point (i.e Willie Horton, pledge of allegiance, LBJ's daisy ad, Jesse Helms' white hand ad etc....). Its what reaction they cause. As for Angelides' strategy, if you can convince the voters that Ahnold is causing high gas prices and is responsible for the Iraq debacle and might read your mail, it sounds like it could be an effective strategy but the ads have to be well-done (the ones I've seen look lame) & and one has to avoid being targeted by the other sides' negatives which Angelides has apparently failed at so far.
Of course absolutely none of these ads matter a day after the election so of course the incentive is to say anything and make up for it later. The Dems have historically been worse at this.
I suppose the Repubs have been better at it lately, but, going back to the LBJ ad you noted, where it was suggested little girls picking daisies would die in a nuclear holocaust if Goldwater were elected, the Dems have also got their licks in.
Some other memorable ads: Bush the Elder's "revolving door justice" and Reagan's "morning in America" and "bear in the woods." (I'm surprised the Repubs haven't tried Bear In The Woods Part II yet. ) They were big enough to be mocked on The Simpsons (Sideshow Bob ran for mayor with the revolving door ad) and Doonesbury (on the bear--I think Trudeau's cluelessness actually helped Reagan, like Michael Moore helped Bush.)
Before then, there was the ad where someone goes into hysterics at the idea of Spiro Agnew being Veep.
But the ugliest ads I ever saw were local ones against Prop 187, which prohibited the government from judging people by their race. One ad said if you supported it, you were essentially a member of the Klan. The other implied if it passed, women couldn't be doctors or lawyers and would be forced into prostitution. It still passed, even though all the power and money in the state were against it.
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