What would be the most cost-effective ad against Romney?

[shanen]

Here are the premises of this thread:

(1) Romney and the neo-GOP will spend more money than President Obama and the Democratic Party this year.

(2) Negative ads are effective.

My conclusion is that we need ads that deliver much more bang for the buck. This thread is for a discussion of such ads, hopefully concrete ideas with rationales as to why they would have punch.

Example ad: Obama versus neo-GOP extremists. My suggestion is that Obama go after specific neo-GOP extremists with the basic argument that "This crazy person is not qualified to be in Congress, but the Democratic opponent is." The obvious targets include Michelle Bachmann, Allen West, and Peter King. The ad should not go deeply into local issues, but would focus on extreme statements. Since Obama wants to be positive, I suggest he also focus on an abstract positive issue that the Democratic challenger can endorse. I think the obvious issue would be overturning Citizens United, but indirectly, in the form of advocating for a Constitutional Amendment stating human rights are more important than corporate rights.

Rationale: If Obama can flip a district from "safe neo-GOP incumbent" to "probable Democratic challenger", then the SuperPACs will respond by pouring money into that district, but it will be impossible to hide the money in a small district, helping to counteract the effectiveness of the money. In addition, Romney will be drawn in and forced to defend the least defensible morons. In brief, attack the weaknesses.

What is your idea for a cost-effective ad? Why do you think it would work? What leveraging factors does your ad have?

Notes:

(1) This thread is intended to update and replace an older thread on effective ads, http://www.democraticunderground.com/125137926 (after a summary update version did not work).

(2) I actually started a White House petition for that idea of human rights OVER corporate rights. It has obviously failed (see http://wh.gov/OBF3 for the flop), but I'm curious if anyone can explain what is wrong with the idea.

[RedStateLiberal]

1. I love the idea of ads calling out the Rethugs

for the wacky things they say. Most people don't notice just how unbelievably nutty they can be and national attention might get people to hold them accountable in November or at least hurt the Republican brand.

I assume that would be pretty cost-effective since it's just taking video clips and letting the wingnuts speak for themselves.

[shanen]

3. Are production costs a big concern for cost-effective ads?

It would be good if you have more concrete ideas about ads of your own... Of course I'm not saying that I don't like my idea, but I think it's even better if there are more new ones and approaches.

The aspect you raised involves the production costs, but I don't feel the production costs are a big concern here. I suppose there are certain kinds of ads that are much more expensive to make--but I've already stated that I think the neo-GOP is certain (due to Citizens United) to have more money. If money really does buy the votes, then America is in a world of hurt.

The cost advantage of focusing on the extremists is not how easy it is to find examples of their extremism, but mostly how expensive it will be to try to recast them in sheep's clothing. Maybe this should be regarded as a shame-based approach? If the local voters are made to feel ashamed of their national embarrassment in Congress, then maybe they will vote against them, no matter how hard the incumbents have worked to rig the system? Disclaimer: I can't understand how ANYONE in the district of such a lunatic as Bachmann can vote for her, so maybe I'm missing the boat...

The big costs are actually in distribution of the ads. The campaign has to run the ads on commercial media to prove their legitimacy. However, that's where the focus on small districts actually has the biggest advantage. You can reach a lot of the voters in a single Congressional district relatively inexpensively.

Viral marketing is good, too. The ads should also be available on such places as YouTube, and of course they should be linked to a variety of keywords that are local to the district.

But do you have your own idea for a cost-effective ad? Something with a big multiplier? (Maybe we should start by considering the negative examples, where lots of advertising failed to produce results, and consider how to get the neo-GOP to spend their money that way. Remember Whitman in California? Unfortunately, that also reminds me of California Proposition 29 and Wi$con$in.)

[RedStateLiberal]

4. I don't know much about marketing

I was looking at it from a production standpoint because I have experience in video production. You're right, the big costs are in distribution.

I like the shame-based approach, that was primarially commenting on. It's effective and doesn't come across as deceptive when using their own words against them. (Unless you blatantly take them out of context).

[shanen]

7. Experienced in production, eh?

So how about producing a montage video of Romney saying "Vote for me so that government of the corporations, by the lawyers, for the richest 0.1% of Americans, shall rule the earth!"

Anyway, I think the Democratic lack of focus on money is liable to be fatal to democracy, assuming democracy isn't already dead in America... The neo-GOP is looking for the available voters, the voters who will obey the ads, and they have the money to reach them.

[shanen]

38. Recent ad targeting Allen West!

Actually there was just a recent ad strongly targeting Allen West, and it looks to be extremely effective, and I mostly with that President Obama would get involved so that Romney would be dragged into the fray. Allen West is a loser who has NO business being in Congress.

I would like to add two more obvious targets to the list. One is Steve King, who recently made some amazingly stupid comments, apparently in defense of dog fighting.

The other is McCaul in Texas. You've probably never heard of him, because unlike Louie Gohmert he hasn't been especially visible as an idiot. He is just an incompetent tool, but his district was gerrymandered out of Lloyd Doggett's old district, which forced Doggett to move to another district. He's such a mindless and unimportant tool that I had to search for his name even though the gerrymandering happened many years ago and he's been my so-called Representative ever since then. He's actually so incompetent that they just re-gerrymandered the district to try to make him safer, but there are still a lot of Doggett supporters in the district, and he might be vulnerable if Obama came in and forced him to say stupid things on the national stage. I'm not sure how stupid this neo-GOP pol is, but in the best case he hasn't built ANY detectable track record to run on. All he has is gerrymandering and incumbency to offset his toolish incompetency.

[Bad Thoughts]

2. Made in Detroit!

I don't mean literally to have an ad that says that. However, it seems like we were supposed to learn something from the Chrysler Super Bowl ad that hasn't been approached. I think we need an ad that takes on the tough work of recovery and cheers that things are "Made in America."

[cheezmaka]

15. then air the ad "Let Detroit go Bankrupt!"

that ad has stuck in my mind ever since Romney has started campaigning...

[shanen]

63. Does Romney have any credibility against Romney?

As I think about this angle, you'd think it would be strong, but...

Romney is such a liar that I think you can't even use his testimony against him now. He has zero credibility. Yes, I personally believe that the overwhelming preponderance of the evidence shows that Rmoney really is a dangerous extremist who would do great harm to America. His pick of Ryan is strong evidence, and hiding his tax returns is indirect evidence of why he would hurt America: To get more money. People who have Romney's kind of greed will NEVER have enough money. Even worse if his real greed is for power.

However, if you want to think that Romney is a moderate, then you can decide his past moderate statements might be true. I think you would be deluding yourself, but you could say to yourself 'Romney is just pandering to the lunatics for now and he's really a moderate', and there is plenty of evidence available. The ONLY thing we know about Romney is that both sides of his MANY contradictory statements cannot be true. Actually, in many cases there are more than two sides, and in some cases ALL of his states positions are probably false. (It is logically possible for two contradictory statements to both be false. The impossibility is for contradictory truths.)

That leads me back to my conclusion that Romney versus Romney won't work. I think we need to make it Romney and neo-GOP lunatic versus President Obama. There are SO many to choose from. The Credo SuperPAC is targeting 11 of the most extreme neo-GOP nutcases, but the sad reality of the money is that Rove is probably targeting at least 100 of the reasonable Democratic politicians, and Rove and his cronies have so much money that they can probably prevail. Heck, if they decide Todd Akins is salvageable, they would probably turn the spigot on there, too, even though right now they've decided his race is a black hole for their money...

I'm probably going to donate to the Credo SuperPAC this week. That looks to be the best multiplier for my small amount of money, and even though I had decided to sit this one out. It's just that my outrage meter keeps getting pegged out...

One more ugly footnote: I've concluded that Romney has decided he can basically ignore the mass media and the real journalists now. He has so much money that he can just buy whatever media coverage he wants. Why take the risk of saying something stupid on camera? He doesn't need the free publicity and he's scared to death that the actual journalists might discover the truth.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

5. Romney taking away Mediacare and Medicaid

he will take away social security, firefighters, public schools, libraries etc.

under Romney there is a parking lot where the public library used to be

seniors begging in the streets to pay for their healthcare

[shanen]

6. Threats to the elderly from Romney's policies?

You touched on several areas, and since I most strongly feel that threats to the elderly have the most promise, I've decided to focus on that in this response. However, you're treating it in a general fashion... I can think of a couple of ways to tackle it, but I'm not sure which ones might be most effective.

One aspect that came to my mind as I read your reply was the notion of getting the elderly to email each other with anti-Romney information. Obviously this has a very low cost, but I feel like the neo-GOP propagandists are quite organized in this way. Also, it comes close to spamming, and I really hate spam, even if it's sincere spam. (Actually, some bastard has signed me up for several rightwing mailing lists... If I wasn't already against the neo-GOP that would have done the trick, but my own vote has still been effectively negated and cancelled by the gerrymandering the neo-GOP did some years ago.)

[Amonester]

23. Go for giant billboards on the road sides:

Romney and Ryan plan to cut entitlements: say goodbye to your retirement plan.

(In FL, in particular...)

http://www.barackobama.com

[shanen]

64. There's no defense like a good offensive LIE

Yes, but... Romney and Ryan just turn around and lie about it. Everyone knows they are lying, but they won't even talk to the real journalists about the lies. At this point, the neo-GOP feels they have enough money so that they don't need the free publicity. They are much more afraid of the truth coming out. That's the main lesson they are learning from the Todd Akins fiasco over "legitimate rape". If only he hadn't been talking to that stupid interviewer, none of this would have happened, eh?

[Sheepshank]

8. How about getting some News clips from 2002

Where some of the volunteers from the SLC Olympics and a coupleof law enforcement officers were complaning on the News, how Romeny went on a screaching, swearing tirade at the little people, because he wasn't being treated like royalty.

Seems like a road was closed or plugged with venue seekers...and Romney was a tad putout. It was the volunteers fault, dontcha know?

http://romneyfacts.com/issue_rap.php

[yellowcanine]

9. How about some clips of Romney in his own words..........

including the most recent trip to the UK, Israel and Poland.

[shanen]

10. I spy, you spy, we all spy, or no spy?

The title is mostly a tip of the hat to his public goof about meeting the head of British intelligence.

I'm not disputing that Romney is his own worst enemy. However, it seems clear that Rmoney is working the big lie, and he must think he should keep talking. How can we make him pay for his words? As I've noted, we need to make them pay in MONEY poured down rat holes--and we need them to waste a LOT of money.

How can you make the idea more concrete?

On the general theme, I posted a concrete idea in starting the previous thread. I'd repeat it, but I don't have time this morning, but for summary, it would use Romney's self-contradictions as a lead in to what he REALLY thinks as a pastiche video where he says "Vote for me so that government of the corporations, by the lawyers, for the richest 0.1% of Americans, shall rule the earth."

[shanen]

11. Is email cost effective advertising? Is it just spam?

Just received a couple of unsolicited spam messages from rightwing lunatics. The only thing I want to know is how they got my email address. Any suggestions?

The Democrats are also sending me some email, but I sort of know how that happened. I don't think they are lunatics, but I'm still annoyed by extra email... Of course they would say they love it because of the low cost.

Most interesting aspect of the rightwing spam was that it comes from outside America, apparently to avoid the anti-spam law in the US.

In terms of technique, I think the most interesting bit was the totally slanted push-poll from one of the rightwing loons. However, since their voters are so stupid, it's probably effective.

On the topic of American stupidity, I just want to remind you of the woman in Tennessee who was beaten up by the guy she was living with. He saw a picture of her lover on their computer, so he smashed the computer before punching her. Apparently he has beaten her up before, though I don't know anything else about the reasons on earlier occasions. However, on this latest incident, the reason was a picture of Willard the Mitt Romney. Rmoney is NOT her lover, but her abusive roommate didn't recognize him. Obviously he doesn't watch or read any news, but we can hope he doesn't vote. However, his stupidity and ignorance is not the real issue here. HER stupidity in apparently wanting to vote for Romney is the part that is sticking in my mind. With voters that stupid, how can democracy survive?

[cheezmaka]

16. A little bit of BOTH...

I found out that businesses can BUY email lists with your email address on it. And as much as I don't want to believe it there are a LOT of stupid voters out there... the biggest threat to democracy

[Herlong]

12. Trust

Use actual visuals of Rmoney contradicting himself then add something like who is
Mitt Romney? Add trust, values and American morals and you've got your ad.

[MissMarple]

13. Turn Honey Badger loose.

By that we need to be focused, direct, and effective. Turn into the fire, find the target, and fire back, quite civilly, of course. Brook no nonsense, unless you're playing "here, mousy, mousy". I think Harry seems to be doing just great, right now.

[shanen]

36. The honey badger is already loose

The neo-GOP fanatics hate democracy in America, and they will do anything, lie, cheat, ANYTHING, to win. Fanatics FIRST!!

That was actually my Angry Rant of the Day tweet.

Mostly I was thinking about the situation in Ohio, where the neo-GOP is systematically and directly using the Democrats love of democracy to cheat on the election. In counties that are liable to vote Republican, the neo-GOP tools vote for extended early voting, the committee members from the Democratic Party vote for democracy (of course), and they have extended voting. In counties that vote Democratic, the neo-GOP tools vote against, it's a deadlock, and then the neo-GOP Secretary of State comes in and votes AGAINST voting--because it would allow some voters to vote for some Democrats.

Okay, I'm off topic. That isn't a cost-effective ad--but it should be.

[Drunken Irishman]

14. Romney is the most cost-effective ad against Romney.

[Telly Savalas]

17. Run ads that say ads are bullshit.

The only reason money has influence in politics is because it can buy TV spots. If people dropped the idiotic practice of letting 30 second television ads shape their voting behavior, it would undermine the de facto plutocratric structures that run our government and economy.

"You know that ad Romney is running that says all those awful things about Obama. It's riddled with lies. He's a politician. It should not shock you when he lies. Turn the fucking TV off. Read a fucking newspaper. Use your fucking brain, then ask yourself is an asshole that lies worthy of the Presidency."

That's the ad message.

[shanen]

18. It's not everyone, but...

Well, not all of the voters are swayed so easily--but apparently enough to flip the elections. Wi$con$in and California Proposition 29 were decided by tilting ENOUGH voters, though it took about 20% in California.

I just got email from Harry Reid. He wanted money for those kinds of TV spots. Here is my reply:

I have donated to various Democratic campaigns over the years, but I am not inclined to donate this year. You need to convince me that my donation will have a MAJOR multiplier and will count MUCH more heavily than the donations of Romney's greedy millionaire friends like Sheldon Adelson and the Kolk brothers--and so far I don't see it.

I think President Obama is an extreme moderate, and lots of Republican voters think Romney is moderate, too. If you fight this election as a head-to-head contest on Romney's turf of money, then Romney has more cash and democracy in America will lose.

Of course the truth is different. Romney is NOTHING like Obama. Today's neo-GOP is nothing like the GOP or the actual Republican Party of yore. President Obama should turn his back on Romney and go directly against the neo-GOP extremists like Michelle Bachmann, Allen West, and Peter King. The neo-GOP has to be forced to pour VAST amounts of cash into rat holes defending the indefensible--and Romney will be dragged along for the ride.

You think the hidden income tax returns are a good issue. Yeah, but... Romney is a liar on the grandest scale. I really can't decide if you are being jerked along here. Maybe you are actually being set up like Dan Rather. Sure, I hope Romney's lies and deceptions will destroy his candidacy, but that isn't enough.

We already know what will happen if President Obama is actively obstructed by neo-GOP fanatics in Congress. Nothing. For several years the Congress has done NOTHING, and that is EXACTLY what will happen for the next four years unless the neo-GOP fanatics are CRUSHED in this election.

Hopeless, but sometimes the venting makes me feel a bit better...

[MADem]

19. 15 second vignettes that talk about Romney as a job creator...in CHINA.

Get a hundred different people who lost their jobs as a result of a Bain Raid--get a short compelling quote from each of them (I used to do X job, I had a house, car, money in the bank, a retirement plan, standing in the community--now I have nothing thanks to Mitt Romney, for example).

Make sure the visuals are good--compelling people with large eyes, an everyman appearance, and filmed against the background of their closed business, if possible. Musical accompaniment in the background needs to be an earworm, but subtle.

Follow up with different taglines.

Mitt Romney--Job Creator---in CHINA (Boom, boom on the drum!).
Tell Mitt Romney NO THANKS to creating jobs in China!
Mitt Romney--He's what's WRONG with business in America.
Mitt Romney didn't care about workers then--why would he care about them now?

[Ikonoklast]

20. Have one working person after another, nurse, cop, waiter, cube dweller, steel worker, postal clerk,

etc., in their work setting, dirty, sweating, harried, turn to the camera and say brightly, with a huge smile, "I pay taxes so Mitt Romney doesn't have to!".

[shanen]

21. I sort of like the idea, but it would obviously seem staged...

The idea is interesting, but it would obviously seem staged and artificial--even if there are some neo-GOP supporters who actually are stupid enough to feel that way. I keep thinking about that stupid Romney-supporting woman in Tennessee...

The central idea of your ad is that Romney is different from you and me, and I had an idea along those lines. Here's a somewhat different approach:

"When he was born, Mitt Romney's father was worth x1 millions. If each of his x2 children got an equal share, Mitt Romney was worth x3 million dollars when he was born. How much were YOU worth?"

I'm using x for the numeric values that need to be filled in. I guess that this first part of the ad is probably showing a baby picture?

"When he graduated from college, Mitt Romney's estimated worth was x4 million dollars, his debt was $0, and his first job paid x5 dollars per year. Where were you when you graduated from college?"

Picture of Rmoney at graduation?

"After graduate school, Mitt Romney was worth x6 million dollars, his debt was still $0, and his next job earned him x7 dollars in the first year. At that time, he was x8 years old. What was your salary when you were x8 years old?"

Maybe the Bain picture with the money?

"Now Mitt Romney's personal worth is estimated at x9 million dollars. Do you think he understands YOUR life?"

Maybe pictures of Mitt's houses, horses, cars, etc.?

Obviously I don't know the biographical details, but the point of the ad is that regular peasants like us shouldn't expect any sympathy, understanding, or help from Willard the Mitt Romney.

I'm not sure how cost effective the ad would be, though it might reach certain delusional voters and flip them against Romney in a way that no amount of SuperPAC ads will unflip them. In that sense it might be good if it is targeted properly.

[sofa king]

22. "Republicans can now pay themselves by voting all-Democratic."

Or not voting at all.

Slide that little line into the next political debate, and see the looks on everyone's faces when they realize that not only is it true, some variant of it applies to themselves as well.

The Republicans have already voted down an extension of the middle class tax cuts alone, holding it hostage in return for tax cuts for the rich. President Obama has already promised to veto any bill that extends the cuts for the wealthy, but he wants an extension for everyone else to pass.

The only way to do that will be to vote out every goddamned Republican in Congress so that the middle class cuts can be extended by next year's Democratic-controlled Congress, something disgusted Republicans can easily achieve by not simply voting at all (or even better, secretly voting all-D in the booth and not telling anyone).

WE ALL have a vested interest in kicking their asses, now.

[Whisp]

24. a chart showing how the ratio of CEO to employees

wages/profits has so drastically changed to the CEOs benefit in the last few decades.

Said in a way to dispel that these superrich people somehow work 1,000,000 times harder and they deserve their profits for that.

Well, they'd be in a coffin from exhaustion if they actually worked that much x's harder than say, a truck driver or a teacher.

[vinny9698]

25. The pranks pulled on his own kids.

Romney is a bully who pulled pranks on his victims, but when you tell your son to smell the butter to see if it is rancid, then you smash the butter into your own son's face and then laugh about it, that is sick. One of his sons said it on a TV interview where the sons were trying to make their father the funny prankster. But it just shows how much of a bully he really is.

[no_hypocrisy]

26. Old footage of Romney, using his own words against him.

I'd start with Romneycare.

Then his support for a woman's right to choose.

Then a still of designer flip flops.






http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/09/romney-a-flip-flop-used-to-be-more-liberal-than-ted-kennedy.html

[shanen]

27. Romney as the anti-Reagan?

Would this be an effective approach to reach some of the Republican voters and flip them against Romney? The more I think about it, the more ways that I can see that Romney is the antithesis of Reagan, but most importantly on the issue of truth. Reagan BELIEVED what he was saying, but even Romney knows he is lying and shows it. Reagan was wrong a lot of the time, and just didn't know what the truth was, whereas Romney knows the truth and you can see it.

From that perspective and many others, Reagan is actually much closer to President Obama than to Romney.

I don't have time to write more this morning, but for now I want to throw it out with the question:

What kind of Reagan-based ad would convince GOP voters and old Republican Party voters that today's neo-GOP and Romney are DIFFERENT?

[seanpencil]

33. Bull

shit

"Reagan BELIEVED what he was saying, but even Romney knows he is lying and shows it. Reagan was wrong a lot of the time, and just didn't know what the truth was, whereas Romney knows the truth and you can see it."

[shanen]

34. Are you agreeing or disagreeing? Remember that the OLD Republicans still worship Raygun

Maybe it will help to clarify the typology? I actually started from the observation that Dubya did not know the truth and didn't care. His main concern was managing to read the teleprompter without any excessively humiliating errors. When you looked at Dubya talking (though that became really difficult quite quickly), you got the impression he was just mouthing stuff.

In contrast, when you watch Romney talk (and it's already becoming difficult), you can sort of see the intelligence there. He KNOWS that he is lying and he just does not care. His only concern is whether someone somewhere will buy the lie, especially when he's accusing someone else of his OWN flaws. This to me is fundamentally Nixon's approach to reality. The ugly truths just need to be "fixed".

Now we get to the so-called great fearless leader Reagan, who didn't know what the truth was most of the time. That was most clear in some of his "witty" moments. However, Reagan was really sincere, and he was quite good with his teleprompter, and you had to agree that he projected sincerity and that is exactly the opposite of Rmoney.

That leaves one more cell, the presidents who know the truth and respect it. Unfortunately, I think that mostly includes one-term losers like Ford, Carter, and Poppy Bush, and I'm quite worried that Obama might be in the same quadrant.

I think there are a lot of old-fashioned true Republicans who could NOT vote for an anti-Reagan like Romney. On the other hand, some of them would be quite willing to vote for another Nixon, which makes me think that comparing Romney to Nixon might not be a good strategy, even though I think Romney has the potential to be much more Nixonian.

[seanpencil]

35. This

"Reagan was really sincere, and he was quite good with his teleprompter, and you had to agree that he projected sincerity"

is bullshit. You are repeating the myth of Reagan. Lots of people bought it, even at the time. But it's a lie.

[shanen]

37. Reagan myth? Yes, but the myth exists, so let's use it AGAINST Romney!

Even many people who oppose EVERYTHING that Reagan stood for and was technically responsible for think he was an effective leader and even respect him for his leadership. Much MORE so among the old-fashioned TRUE Republicans, but even among many of the modern neo-GOP fanatics. They think "Raygun Ronnie" (as I used to call him while he was still in office) was some sort of saint, and therefore I think many of those people would find it quite difficult to vote for Romney as the anti-Reagan. I'm not sure how to pitch such an ad, but I do think it is a major vulnerability.

I personally do NOT believe the myth. My belief is that Reagan was just a second-rate or even third-rate actor who was pretending to be president. Unlike Dubya, we still don't know who the REAL director was, and we don't know the real producers, investors, and money-men for any of the Republicans, but I think Reagan was just faking it. If he had actually been a first-rate actor, then he never would have left movies and gone into politics, and as a first-rate actor, he might have been faking it, to boot. However, as a second-rate method actor, I think Reagan was fooling himself, and if today's teleprompter disagreed with yesterday's teleprompter, that did NOT bother him. He was quite sincere on BOTH sides of whatever his lines told him to say.

There are two other aspects of this topic that I don't know how to sell effectively, let alone in a cost-effective way. First is comparing President Obama to Reagan. I actually don't like it, but objectively speaking Obama is much more SIMILAR to Reagan than Romney is. It's not just in his personality and attitude and sincerity, but that his understanding and acceptance of the truth often leads Obama to the kinds of compromises that Reagan's handlers were forced to accept for more pragmatic reasons.

The second aspect is how to link Romney to Nixon, who is clearly the recent president who is most similar to Rmoney. The problem there is that a lot of traditional Republicans can rationally like many of Nixon's liberal and realistic policies and actually hope that Romney will suddenly and magically become much more moderate than he appears. Therefore even a strong linkage to Nixon will not flip their votes or even discourage them from voting for Romney. However, I think that the underlying core of Romney is that he's a rich bastard and he will do everything he can for himself and his rich bastard friends. With the support of a neo-GOP extremist Congress, the potential damage beggars my imagination.

[seanpencil]

39. why not just address it thru the policies?

ppl are tired of the bullshit and PR

[shanen]

44. Political BS, PR, and toothpaste ads

I agree with you that many people feel that way, but that's not how it works. There are two large blocs that will not change their votes under most circumstances. One bloc votes Democratic, the other bloc votes for the Republican, and both of those blocs are usually negated by the gerrymandering that counts the consistent votes in advance.

The swing votes used to be in play, though the Ryan pick makes me wonder this time around. However, assuming there still is a significant number of swing voters to go after, that's where the ads come into play, which of course is why I created this thread to focus on cost-effective ads. There are some people who will vote as told, and for some number of those voters, the only important question is get the last ad in front of them...

Remember Wi$con$in and the debacle of California Proposition 29.

[siligut]

28. "Romney is spending billionaire's money on ads intended to deceive"

"But if you elect him, it will be your money he spends to tell his lies."

We can't make money not matter, so we have to determine ways to use Mitt's money against him.
Use the money he gets from Citizens United against him by associating it with deception and the soon to be increased proliferation of ads Mitt puts out there. Every time they see a Mitt ad, it will subconsciously hurt their wallet.

We can mediate it with Obama's charisma, truth and a real plan for the country, but money still has power. So make Mitt's abundance of money into something like too much sugar or alcohol, too much and it is no longer good or enjoyable, too much and it hurts.

[shanen]

40. Concentrating the invisible neo-GOP money will make it harder to hide

That's actually part of why I think President Obama should be punching down at targets like Steve King, Michele Bachmann, and Allen West. By making them more prominent and nationally visible, their insanity and lack of qualifications for public office will flip their districts and force the neo-GOP to open the floodgates of money--but in a small place where it will be relatively visible and relatively ineffective. Plus I think it will drag Romney into defense of the indefensible morons and intolerant extremists. That was part of the OP... I keep feeling how ashamed I would feel if I lived in one of those districts--and increasing that shame might get them to vote for a RATIONAL Democratic alternative.

There is also the policy implications. We've already seen that an obstructionist minority of neo-GOP fanatics can prevent Congress from doing anything, and they need to be squished HARD to prevent them from obstructing the next four years. An Obama victory without a major Congressional shift will NOT allow America to solve the problems that need to be solved--problems that have been created over MANY years going back at least to Reagan's attacks on public education.

I'm becoming somewhat more optimistic that Rmoney will lose in spite of his advantage of money. He really is a TERRIBLE candidate besides being an incredibly selfish and greedy human being. He is a total fake who LOOKS like a fake, which makes him the anti-Reagan, and even a lot of Republicans may find it difficult to vote for the anti-Reagan.

[shanen]

29. Today's Neo-GOP: One shop stopping for ALL of America's problems

Today's Neo-GOP: One shop stopping for ALL of America's problems

You want crooks? We have Sheldon Adelson, the gambling king who bribes Chinese gangsters!

You want mass poisoners? We have the Kolk brothers who are some of the leading polluters in the world!

You want racists? Jackpot! We have the Reagan Republican from Dixie, the superpatriot Teabaggers, and the border patrol vigilantes!

You want judicial dictators? Let's look at the Supreme Court!

You want lawless anti-Constitutional extremists? Let's look at anti-abortion extremists!

Not sure how to layout the ad, but maybe it wouldn't be cost effective anyway... Also, out of time and need to run.

Guess I'm kind of disappointed that there doesn't seem to be any magic bullet. I guess the Democrats are not an organized party and really are lacking the kind of strong (but stupid, wrong-headed, and destructive) leadership that the neo-GOP has. I wish President Obama would just come out against insane extremists, and go down the list and attacking in their districts. Steve King, Michele Bachmann, Allen West, Peter King, Louie Gohmert, LOTS of others.

[seanpencil]

30. "Greed is good"

Shots of him cut with Gordon Gekko.

[shanen]

31. Going beyond Gordon Gekko...

How would you lay it out so that it wasn't obviously fake? How would you make it persuasive to voters?

Here's my initial thoughts along those lines:

Commercial 1:

Two people are talking, and the main punchline would be something like:

"Before I could vote for Romney you'd need to convince me of two things. One, that Romney has enough money and power, because such rich people always want MORE. Two, that there are limits to what Romney did and will do for more money and power, because it seems like he will tell ANY lie and do ANYTHING that he thinks will get him a vote."

The problem with that punchline is that it's preaching and verbose, but there should be some way to break it up and present it more effectively.

Commercial 2:

This would be an interview with REAL Republicans who have decided to vote against Romney. The link to your Gordon Gecko idea would be that the people should have decided against him because of the greed.

The problem here is that anti-endorsements are risky. You have to make sure that that the person on the commercial doesn't turn around and flip again, and you also know that the person is likely to get LOTS of pressure from the neo-GOP lunatics.

[seanpencil]

32. The RMONEY family photo is pretty effective.

[seanpencil]

41. well here it is

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021110260#post31

[shanen]

42. Romney and Ryan = RR = Rolls-Royce?

The logo of Rolls-Royce for Romney/Ryan is interesting, but I'm not sure it will catch on or can be used in the focus-of-this-thread cost-effective way. I see a number of problems with it. One is that Rolls-Royce still has a mostly favorable image, and another is that I don't think Ryan is stinking rich in the same way as Romney.

For whatever it's worth, I actually got the feeling that Romney was about to go with Ryan a few days ago when I listened to Rachel Maddow reviewing the veepstakes contenders. My fuzzy recollection was that she didn't talk much about Ryan, but it was the negative things she said about the alternatives that somehow led me to the conclusion that Romney would pick Ryan. Now is absolutely the time for President Obama to reconsider Joe Biden...

Back to the main topic of this thread, I think that Ryan really opens up the floodgates for some cost-effective anti-neo-GOP ads. Ryan is the quasi-rational poster boy for the worst of the neo-GOP policies, and it will now be MUCH easier to link Romney to the real black holes like Steve King, Michele Bachmann, Allen West, Peter King, Louie Gohmert, and on and on. Maybe we can have the Congressional rout of the neo-GOP that the country actually needs.

[seanpencil]

43. ha HA HAH HA HAH AH AH HA HA HA HA

ha

[Romnopoly]

45. This is the most cost effective ad against Romney Ryan 2012

I made this video for about $10 (toy cars, toy dogs, spray paint, photo copies at work, etc) and put it on youtube. With Ryan as his VP this video is even more true.

[shanen]

46. Quite a good video, and I hope it goes viral

The labeling of "Romnopoly" is especially clever. However, I think it must have cost you more than $10, and there is still a lot of room for improvement. The script is pretty good, but the quality of the voice is hard to hear. One obvious improvement would be to show the words along the bottom as it's playing. Then again, even a relatively big budget version that cost several hundred dollars would be highly cost effective if it goes viral...

Conceptually, I think it's significant that Romney is playing by himself and doesn't understand real competition. There was sort of a nod to the primaries, but it felt more like evasive maneuvers than real combat. I'm so fixated on Rmoney's lies that it's hard for me to select other flaws, but his cowardice is pretty high up there. In the context of the game, the greed and selfishness might make more natural sense.

One more thought. Can you see a way to work in my idea for Romney's REAL slogan? I think it should be done as a pastiche video of Romney's own speeches: "Vote for me so that government of the corporation, by the lawyers, for the richest 0.1% of Americans, shall rule the earth." I'm convinced that's the truth, but Romney is fundamentally allergic to saying anything that is true, except maybe when he's contradicting himself.

[kxm40]

48. T-Shirt

[Romnopoly]

50. Thanks for your comments

If it cost more than $10, it wasn't by much, as I got most of the materials from my work for free (color copies, glue sticks, cardboard, etc). Regardless of the cost, thanks for your comments. I don't plan on making anymore political ads anytime soon, but if I do, I'll try work in your ideas.

[shanen]

51. Working together versus the lunatic Ayn-Randians?

Hmm... Maybe you could contact the people who did that ad that upset Romney so much? The steelworker's wife ad. Would you let them make an improved version of the game in hopes of going viral? Right now I think that is the most cost effective ad because it provoked such an expensive response from the Romney campaign--even though that ad was never aired on any commercial station, at least not yet...

[kxm40]

49. You did a very good job!

[laserhaas]

53. Lots of work - Good job

This one is so cool

[laserhaas]

47. The ADs that detail the 2001 Bain Capital Frauds Mitt Romney is hiding from.

Unfortunately for Mitten's - His staff failed to destroy "all" the evidence of 2001.

It is now a publicly known fact that Mitt Romney "was" CEO of Bain Capital until August 2001. Thus he claims he "retroactively" retired back to 1999. But, I ask you, can Al Capone "retroactively" retire from his bad faith acts? Are we to believe Frank Nitti (Bain Capital) - when they testify that he wasn't there when?

Do we let Mitt Romney's Bain Capital get away with 101 + State, Federal and SEC frauds;
simply because he is powerful enough to arrange for his own law partner to become US Attorney?

The cases never mentioned by the main stream media;
The Learning Company - Liquidity Solutions - eToys.

And THE Event of August 2001 - Mitt Romney doesn't want you to know.

[shanen]

65. Government planning should be thinking beyond next quarter's profits

Often I see post like this that have some good ideas, but without sufficient flesh to give me an idea for a direct reply... I've often asked for more concrete ideas, such as a scenario for the ad, or at least a partial script, but usually people don't have more to add...

However, it's actually more important to go beyond the single ad to consider what will make that ad cost effective. What kind of response will the ad elicit, and is there reason to think that the ad will be more expensive than it cost to make the ad. Remember that Romney and the neo-GOP has lots of money. They seem to think that they have reached the point where they don't need any more free publicity. In other words, they are no longer going to give ANY access to real journalists. Before Romney will even talk to an interviewer, the journalist has to agree NOT to ask any questions that the good King Romney would prefer not to answer. (There was an example just a few days ago, when Romney gave an interview after the interviewer agreed not to ask about various topics.)

The aspect that brought me back to this particular topic of Bain was the realization that Romney's business experiences is fundamentally about short-term profits. In the particular example you (laserhaas) mentioned, the key for Romney was to show that he had already taken his profits and run away before the worst shite hit the fan. This is the WRONG kind of experience. Government does NOT get to run away from the future. Most businesses are run by people just like Romney. Their only concern is to get as much money as possible and leave any messes behind for the next sucker. Government is NOT supposed to work like that. The entire society gets saddled with the messes (like the mountain of shite Dubya left behind).

Cost effective? Consider the Todd Akins fiasco in Missouri. The neo-GOP simply acknowledged that he'd become a radioactive black hole, and they stopped pouring any money in his direction...

Who needs free media coverage? Romney can BUY his image in paid commercials.

[shanen]

52. The nuclear income-tax-returns non-disclosure agreement between Romney and Ryan!

Has Ryan ever disclosed any of his tax returns in the past? If so, how much will that embarrass Romney (and what sort of ad can be made of it)? If not, then can that be compared with other Congressmen and used to embarrass Romney ANY Ryan?

Even better, can we find out how many years of Ryan's tax returns Romney looked at? I'm certain that Romney did not settle for almost two years of returns.

The tax returns should continue dogging Rmoney, but how can we maximize the damage? How about a series of ads interviewing people who feel that Romney's secrecy on tax returns is the final reason they couldn't vote for him. Not sure how you find the right people, but you want people who aren't going to flip, but it's also more credible if they are people who have come off the fence on President Obama's side... Well, actually, since this is a fundamentally negative approach, you are looking for people who came off the fence on the opposite side from Romney, but you want them to spontaneously say things like "I was thinking about voting for Romney, but he's too dishonest, and hiding his tax returns is what finally convinced me he is NOT honest. I'm not sure what he's hiding, but I am sure that he's hiding something, and it's BAD."

However, I still think the biggest winner for cost-effectiveness has to be the ad that is killing Romney just by existing. I'm referring to the ad about the wife who died because she didn't have Romneycare or Obamacare. That ad merely exists, and hasn't even been run on any commercial station--but it's killing Rmoney and he's already spending lots of money fighting it. On top of that, now he's trying to fix his spokeswoman's mistake in bringing up Romneycare.

[shanen]

54. The BIG lie bomb!

The thing that is continuing to boggle my mind about this so-called campaign is the imbalance between the lies. Romney is a pathological liar leading a neo-GOP of pathological liars and worse. Just read about a rant from a prominent country singer and staunch conservative saying that President Obama is an America-hating Muslim. Don't hold your breath waiting for Romney to say that isn't true. NONE of it is true, but Rmoney apparently wants to be the king of lies with a bit part as president of the US.

So the idea for a commercial based on this theme would be the "lie bomb". The graphic image would be a stream of flagrant lies getting pressured into a Romney-shaped missile until it EXPLODES like a nuclear weapon. Okay, I admit that it's kind of over the top. If lies really were explosives, Romney would have self-destructed a LONG time ago, but it captures how I feel about listening to Romney.

The latest round of lies about social security seemed to be a new peak, but every time I think the neo-GOP can't go deeper, they pull out a BIGGER lie. Apparently they are just going to keep inflating a bigger lie every day.

P.S. I still think the best strategy is for Obama to punch down at the raging lunatics like Steve King (defender of dogfighting), Michele Bachmann (neo-McCarthy), Allen West (insane Oreo cookie), Louie Gohmert (birther extraordinaire) and a host of other morons who have no business representing ANYONE in Congress. However, it looks like the Democrats don't see it. Anyone have an idea how to draw Obama into some of those local campaigns? If only Romney were trying to defend such indefensible morons while exposing the secret money floods in small districts...

[shanen]

55. Per the original post: "I told you so!" Akin is the proof

I think this Akin fiasco for the neo-GOP is proof positive that my original suggestion of ads targeting the lunatics is where the Democrats should be spending their money, including President Obama personally exposing their lunacy. He doesn't have to do it directly, but even by coming into the districts and states with the SANE Democratic candidates, the lunacy can be exposed.

Akin did NOT create this insanity today. He just got exposed and I hope it destroys the neo-GOP in Missouri. No matter what happens now, at a minimum they have to recover from the turmoil, but I really wish ALL reasonable people could see the neo-GOP for what it is--NOT the GOP and NOT the Republican Party.

[shanen]

56. Bribes cost money, too! "Legitimate rape" victims secrete blood.

In terms of the cost-effective aspect, I think the bribes to get Akin to drop out should be considered, too. As of right now, he hasn't pulled out, but you know they are calling him and offering him LOTS of money and alternative jobs if he will just pull out before the deadline (about one hour from now as I write).

If Akin does pull out, the big shame is that no one will know what the bribes are until after the election. THAT would make for a REALLY cost-effective ad that no amount of counter-advertising could offset. He is such a fanatic that they can't give him any concrete proof like an offer in writing. They should be legitimately afraid that he might reveal the bribe, or that one of his fanatic staff members is so stupid as to leak the bribe by accident.

Speculations on the kinds of ads someone could make if Akin does NOT pull out:

Akin's "certain secretion" could be the victim's blood, which is what she secretes when it's a "legimate rape". I can certainly imagine that the woman's blood might be harmful to the rapist's sperm--but I can't imagine any doctor saying that. Akin has already tried to reword it as "forcible rape". The mind is wrong--but he's already been in Congress for a decade, and he did NOT suddenly become so stupid.

The neo-GOP boat is leaky, but Akin isn't the ONLY hole in the boat. Missouri needs Senator Akin like a hole in the head.

[LiberalFighter]

57. Did Mitt Romney ever have any business dealings with bin Laden or Saddam?

[shanen]

58. Credo SuperPAC

Anyone heard of this?

[shanen]

59. Do nice guys always finish last?

What little I've been able to learn is that they are targeting about 11 of the biggest lunatics in Congress. I think that's a good idea, and I'm leaning towards donating because I think it might make my small amount of money count as heavily as possible.

Unfortunately, I think the neo-GOP is targeting something like 100 moderates and even slightly liberal politicians. Not just with money, but with every other method including dirty tricks they can think of. For example, Lloyd Doggett has been gerrymandered out of two or three districts over the last 15 years or so... Another example, remember Senator Tom Daschle...

[shanen]

60. Interesting highly visual ad, but...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/125176147 is worth looking at, but I don't think it's really cost-effective. The punchline of Romney is well done, but the overall message is complicated and long, and you have to make a lot of effort even to follow most of what is going on. Also, the same indirect reference of "guy" or "guys" is being crossed. Mostly it refers to bad guys, but sometimes not. The viewer has to recognize the pictures to figure out what is going on, and even though I'm a pretty big follower of politics, there were a lot of non-iconic images there...

[CabCurious]

61. Going positive on the economy... is the best bet imo

Obama's primary weakness among undecideds and independents has to do with vague assertions about his "failures" on the economy and the recovery. The best way to tackle that is head-on with HOPE and positive comments about the economy.

By contrast, Romney is the PROBLEM... the vulture capitalist who isn't about honest manufacturing and Main Street. He represents the 1% crowd who really didn't care about unemployment until he was politically fashionable.

[shanen]

62. How can President Obama go positive on the essentially negative economy?

Maybe if you describe something more concrete I could understand your idea better. Perhaps something like a little scenario or script for the commercial you are thinking about?

However, it seems to me that the economy is a fundamentally negative issue. Personally, I think that most of the blame belongs to the neo-GOP obstructionists who are much more focused on destroying that n-word president than they are on helping the country, but it seems that one man's oath of office is another man's toilet paper. President Obama seems to be in a kind of Catch 22 on the economy. America's economic situation is NOT strong, but to show why it's still so weak, he would have to go negative to outflank the neo-GOP extremists who have made it so bad--but in going negative, he will be playing on Romney's turf, and there's no way to out-negative such a fundamentally negative person...

This election is reminding me more and more of 2000. In spite of VAST differences between the candidates, the election remained close, but this time the neo-GOP has MUCH more money behind it. Actually, I've concluded that Romney has decided he no longer has to talk to ANY media person or journalist if there is the slightest possibility of a negative outcome. He can simply buy as much media exposure as he wants. He doesn't need any free publicity.

[shanen]

66. The neo-GOP is WRONG for the sustainable future--Moon before Mars

Not really a concrete idea for a cost-effective ad today, but just throwing some ideas around that were sort of triggered by the passing of Neil Armstrong... Yes, he was a great man, but I think he was quite wrong about a manned mission to Mars as a next step in manned space exploration. The option that makes some sense would be a large manned base on the moon, but starting with robotic factories. I really think the seed research for such robotic factories would be within the 10- to 15-year planning horizon that a functioning American government could support. (The Apollo Program was on that scale.)

Now it flops back into politics. The lunar robotic factories cannot be powered by coal or oil. The moon doesn't have ANY hydrocarbon reserves to burn off. It doesn't even have the oxygen to burn the oil if we insanely shipped it there. The moon has to be solar power, but thanks to the the neo-GOP, America is NOT the leader in solar energy, and we're fast falling out of distant contention. In political terms, we actually made that decision a long time ago, or rather Reagan made it when one of his first priorities after becoming president was to tear those damned Democratic solar panels off the roof of the White House.

America has become a short-sighted kleptocracy. The cheapest politicians are bribed to write the worst laws by the LEAST ethical businessmen. That's usually the oil companies and their cronies. Then the neo-GOP politicians buy ads accusing President Obama of being a corrupt crony capitalist while they avoid all honest journalists! Hey, if you don't need any free publicity, why take the risk of committing a Todd Akin moment of truth?

[shanen]

67. Is Twitter more cost-effective than real ads?

Mostly I've given up on the effectiveness of Democratic Underground, but... Been herding anti-Romney bots over on Twitter.

My rationalization seems weak. I certainly can't match the lunatics on money, but my creative time might be a kind of leverage point. I don't even have to be the creator if I can just find the effective anti-Romney pressure points, recognize them, and help them go viral.

On the other hand, I think most normal people aren't on Twitter or have very minimal involvement there....