Check out this amazing new Campaign Ad coming soon on CNN

[LynneSin]

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/10/12/131835/12

As for the 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.

We needed this add back in 2004 - it's amazing!

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

1. Most excellent, K & R! n/t

MKJ

[wakeme2008]

2. I have watched that about a dozen times and love it

[FrenchieCat]

3. Loved that a lot.......might as well be talking to a bush tree! n/t

[sandnsea]

4. I think it's juvenile and redundant

Yeah yeah yeah, Democrats are mad at Bush, we get it. Roll eyes.

How are Democrats really going to FIX all of this. What do Democrats BELIEVE in, what are liberal values exactly. That's still what people want to hear.

[Eric J in MN]

6. I've made a couple of liberal videos, and

...if you describe a video to promote liberal values you'd like to see, maybe I would incorporate some of your ideas into a future video.

[sandnsea]

7. Oh lots of things

How about a commercial that let's people know we believe corporations should carry their own weight and pay their own labor costs, including health care, and pay for their own pollution clean-up, just like we have to pay for our garbage clean-up. That's economic justice.

How about a commercial that highlights all the election legislation Democrats have introduced in the last 10 years to clean up elections and secure the voting process, we believe in one man, one vote.

How about a commercial that focuses on the entire bill of rights, not just using the 2nd Amendment as a wedge. How about explaining what this habeas corpus stuff actually means.

The Republicans have been picked apart, but if somebody doesn't start putting together a Democratic moral compass, we're going to go right back to the culture wars as soon as they can polish up another dummy to put in front of the right.

[howmad1]

14. Yea, and watch their eyes glaze over.

This is a great ad. Simple, and to the point. No thinking required. Perfect for the mental capacity of average Joe American. If they don't get this, we're fucked as a nation.

[sandnsea]

18. They managed with this ad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X33KOkLRNA4

I suppose if they played the ad the last days of the election to get the braindead, it'd be okay. Otherwise, it's a lame ad. People who are paying attention now already know the issues and want solutions.

[ClassWarrior]

8. You have to admit, though...

...that it has a lot more panache than the dreck that the "consultant class" usually regurgitates. The point is that we need to be illustrative and clever, instead of just churning out drab advertising.

And I totally agree that this attention-grabbing approach needs to be applied to that whole list of subjects you outline in your second post.

NGU.

[sandnsea]

12. Illustrative and clever - a bush pun???

Maybe it's a generational thing, I don't know. I really don't think it's clever at all.

Although, I would agree it's better than some of the campaign-mill god and family sap, I think we still have to do a lot better. Tester's got some ads with real punch, and I like that b/w musical one too. I just didn't like this one. It was hokey with the bush pun, didn't cover any new territory, didn't offer any plan for change, it didn't even bother to mention checks and balances which is enough to switch parties for some people.

[ClassWarrior]

21. That bar ain't set particularly high, thanks to the Shrums of the world.

Again, content aside, I like the fact it attempts to engage the viewer instead of just lecturing him or her. True, the pun isn't much of a knee-slapper, but the blind set-up does a good job of piquing one's curiosity.

And again, I think something like checks and balances approached creatively like this would make an extremely effective ad.

NGU.

[mark414]

9. that really doesn't matter

the republicans swept in in '94 on one simple premise: change

democratic policy ideas can't be as simplified as right wing wedge issues and thrown into effective 30 second spots

this kind of stuff will work, and work well

[sandnsea]

11. And they specified the change

They told people what direction they were going to take the country in too, they didn't just blast Democrats. We really do have to have more than a laundry list, and that is something I think the Kerry campaign did wrong.

[ClassWarrior]

23. Actually, they specified the change with a laundry list.

But they called it the Contract on America. In other words, they marketed it. Kind of like what we're talking about here in this thread.

NGU.

[sandnsea]

24. No, they promised a fair and safe society for families

And then listed their guiding principles, and then after all that, the laundry list.

http://www.house.gov/house/Contract/CONTRACT.html

We just do the laundry list.

And of course the bashing, but their bashing is more effective because they know how to write short, effective VISUALS that stick. It's why their radio works better too.

[ClassWarrior]

26. Check this out...

The new "manual for Progressives" which outlines ways of doing just what you suggest:

http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org/ThinkingPoints

NGU.

[sandnsea]

25. Here's the perfect example

I've been seeing the Prop 87 ads for California. I just saw Al Gore's so I decided to go see what it is. I just spent twenty minutes on their web site, and finally finally figured out what the bill actually DOES. You go to the web site and tell me how long it takes you to find the location that specifically says what is going to be implemented in California if this bill passes, and where exactly it says it.

In any event, the liberal value is buried in this site, "clean energy economy". The features and benefits all go under that umbrella.

www.yeson87.org

[girl gone mad]

17. It's not my favorite, either.

I think it would be more effective without the bush set-up, with people just talking into the camera.

[Divine Discontent]

19. sadly

I think they believe this appeals to the least common denominator. one of my best friends told me, not so subtly, that he doesn't share my interest in gov't as I do after talking to him for years about issues. He said "they're all the same", and despite his distaste for bush more than anything, he still said that, and that made me think, ya know, only about 20-30% of us even pay attention.

So a commercial talking about what we believe would be nice, and it would do good, no doubt whatsoever, but "funny" commercials or attacks will do more it appears, people did vote after all. I wonder did any of the choices have a great message of what we stood for?

[sandnsea]

20. 'all they do is attack each other'

which I hear from people quite a bit, so sadly, all this commercial does is feed into the belief your friend has about politics. They're all the same.

[LaPera]

5. I think it's a GREAT start...Get people thinking real issues...and then..

hit hard with newer more concise video's after this one... we are not trying to convince Einstein's and Lincoln's here...just people who don't think about anything but what's on the tube...and are fed a constant diet of republican bullshit...

[quiet.american]

10. Excellent! Excellent. n/t

[femrap]

13. L O V E T H I S !!!!!! nt

[texasleo]

15. attacks and "humor" work. Explaining things - well, that's just elitist.

sad, but true.

[Clarkie1]

16. LOL. The concept is great, and exactly the right way to use humor

in politics to get a message across. People will respond to this on a human level, I think it will be very effective!

[Texas_Kat]

22. Anyone surprised Wes Clark is involved in this effort?

Reposted from a NY Times select article

http://donkeyod.blogspot.com/2006/10/democrats-form-new...

Democrats Form New Group For Fund-Raising and Ads
By JOHN M. BRODER
Published: September 14, 2006

<snip>September Fund --started by Harold Ickes

Leaders of the fund include

Karen Ackerman, the political director of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., and
Anna Burger, chairwoman of the Change to Win labor federation.

Others involved are Gen. Wesley K. Clark, retired, the 2004 Democratic presidential candidate;
Nick Baldick, who managed the presidential campaign of former Senator John Edwards and the New York mayoral campaign of Fernando Ferrer;
and Bill Lynch, a New York lobbyist and strategist.

<snip>