Moving on...

I suppose there are a lot of things I could be talking about today.  I was going to look at all the Scott Brown ads and all the Martha Coakley ads and do my campaign post-mortem that way, but I'm jet lagged and cold, so that plan went out the window.  There are a lot of things I could say about  the MA Senate race, it's result, and the aftermath, but none of them are particularly germane to this point of this blog, so it's time to move on. Two ads from Kay Bailey Hutchinson who's running for Governor of Texas:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6CgFJlR5Xc&feature=sub]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4lATf5OcYc&feature=sub]

Maybe this is a Texas issue -- meaning maybe it resonates with Texans, it kinda falls flat on my Yankee ears.  But the first ad is actually a clever way of presenting the message, flat or not.  The sound design is nicely done too, as some of those images are actually stills, but the sounds make you feel the motion of the cars.  I like this style of presentation, I'm not really sure what it's called, but it's interesting and gets your attention.  You get the point even if you think it's ridiculous.

The second ad is the same message, but it's just more blah, blah, blah. And while I try not to be too partisan on the site, the image at the end with Hutchinson & Cheney, the guy really looks all hunched over and troll like than ever.

Hotdogs, Apple Pie & Farouk?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcQM2bQ5V2k] A friend of mine created this ad.  I really love the opening, I'm a sucker for iconic images and Americana.  I think it's also an interesting approach to the essential problem of this campaign: How do you run a man named Farouk Shami for governor in Texas?

I wonder if they could go the entire ad without mentioning his name? Maybe only mention it at the end? I wanted to post this ad in the wake of the Domino's ad because I think (and I've told my friend as much) that while this is a great opening ad, at some point you're going to have to address the big issue, no not that he's a Democrat running in Texas, but his name, Farouk Shami.  If his name was Luis Gonzalez, he'd have an uphill fight even in Texas, but at least he's be playing in the right sand box, but Farouk Shami in Texas of all places? That a pretty big hurdle to overcome.  If there's an elephant in the room, my opinion is that you have to address it head on at some point.

It's a good ad, and a compelling message, but I wonder in the end if it's all just window dressing?  It's also a good reminder that while I'm showing ads usually one at a time, especially in politics they're often part of a campaign, and each ad should build on the last, to create a larger story or reinforce elements of the story the campaign is trying to tell.  We'll see where this one goes.