Christmas with Mike Gravel

I'm just so... confused by it. And yet, I can't look away.

Huckabee for President: "Floating Cross"

He needed to appeal to Christian conservatives, and... what better way to do it than a floating cross in the background (yeah, right, it was "not intended.").

Say what you will about whether it was appropriate, but... it appealed to the people it needed to target, and got the rest of America talking about it (and news programs showing it for free).

Anonymous: "Vote Different"

One of the most talked about ads of the presidential campaign... didn't come from one of the candidates... and didn't even run on TV. Well, paid, at least. But God knows, it showed up a zillion times in the news.

Originally an "anonymous" ad, this actually came from Phil de Vellis. I met him, actually, to chat about this. Good guy, funny as hell, and... he did this alone on his own computer. How cool is that?

DraftObama.org: "Obama for President"

Okay, so full discloure here -- I was one of the leaders of DraftObama.org, and helped make this ad happen, so I'm obviously positively inclined towards it. That being said, the bang for buck from this ad was phenomenal (thanks to the ad's producer, Bud Jackson). With a very low initial expenditure to create it, and a very low (but highly targeted) paid buy, DraftObama.org was still able to drive hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube, and fantastic buzz in the media and the blogosphere. Best of all, I met with Senator Obama shortly after he announced, and he mentioned that his wife Michelle actually saw one of those paid ad buys when they were deliberating whether to run (a highly, highly targeted buy -- Christmas day in Hawaii, where we knew that the Senator and his family would be on vacation).

Massachusetts "Heads up butts" political ad

Now I confess, I don't know much about this candidate. But based on this ad alone, had I been in Massachusetts for this election, I certainly would've learned more. If only the major parties could get as edgy as indies like this!

Bill Richardson for President: "Asked You"

This is funny stuff, and a welcome relief from the usual utter crap that dominates the airwaves during the political season (scrolling headlines... candidate with 2.4 kids and a golden retriever, etc.)

Best Political Ad Ever?

This is from Paul Wellstone's first campagin for Senate, back in 1990. It's a parody of the Michael Moore film, "Roger and Me," but with the challenger trying to find the incumbent (Senator Rudy Boschwitz) to debate him. It's funny as hell, you can't help but love Wellstone, and not surprisingly, it generated more PR/earned media (aka "free showings") than just about any political ad in history.

Oh yeah, and that year, Paul Wellstone was the only challenger to defeat an incumbent senator.

Morning in America (Reagan '84)

Now granted, back in 1984, with his poll numbers, Reagan could've basically mooned the camera and still won. That being said, it's hard to look at this ad and not feel pretty damned good about the USA. Putting politics aside, it perfectly evoked the spirit of Reagan's optism. And the narrator (ad man Hal Riney) has a voice that seems like it leapt out of a Norman Rockwell painting.