New Dodd Ads

Chris Dodd has three new ads up. I'm not going to review them; they're not particularly interesting, except in the fact that like the ad I reviewed earlier, Chris Dodd is nowhere to be found in the ads. One has Senator Kennedy talking about Chris Dodd's role in fighting for health care; the others are real people testimonials about their issues with credit cards and how Dodd's fighting for them by taking on credit card companies.

This approach is probably the right one, especially this early. Stay out of your own way, rebuild your reputation with credible validators, basically re-write your story in people's minds. It might be risky, but I think at some point, Dodd's going to have to appear in the ads in more than name. I think he has to talk about the issues that troubled him and talk honestly about them. Whether the message is he's learned a lesson or it hurts because one mistake has tarnished a lifetime of work, I don't really care. The real issue is when he talks about it, it had better sound truthful and authentic or it's over. Now, this theoretical ad can happen in a year from now, but I think it has to happen.

I do wonder, how many more ads can he run? He can't actually stay up between now and election day, right? If this approach (of starting an ad campaign a year and a half before the election) can help turn around Dodd's fortunes by next year, then maybe we'll be seeing more of it in the years to come.