Sidestepping the issue of whether he can stand the heat of the "Kitchen", Obama's response to Hillary's ad follows the campaign's usual parry to the the experience jab by highlighting his judgement and unifying quality. The reply seeks to shift the terms of debate from which candidate would be best in a crisis to which candidate can best bring about change.
And a quick side note, some in the media have disparagingly described Hillary's recent attacks as a "kitchen sink" strategy. Now, it's not a stretch to say that entitling an attack ad "Kitchen" seems to invoke that very characterization. Seems like a strange move on the part of the Clinton camp.
The Clinton campaign is now airing "Level" statewide in Pennsylvania. The ad opens with the line, "She's fighting for America's middle class" which is not only in keeping with the fighter narrative but, like the Obama ads, shows a focus on a key Democratic voting block in Pennsylvania, blue-collar workers.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, "The Barack barrage has begun." The Obama camp began airing ads in Philadelphia on Friday, which will run through today, March 24th, the voter registration deadline. The Inquirer goes on to report that the Obama campaign spent around $330,000 on this latest slate of ads.
"Opportunity", a minute-long spot, is aptly titled and mostly autobiographical. Using the same words as appeared in his speech on race, Obama shines the spotlight on his grandparents, painting the picture of a working class couple; his grandfather served in the army, while his grandmother worked on bomber assembly line and neither had much money. The Obama campaign is no doubt attempting to appeal to the large number of working class voters in Pennsylvania, which have thus far been a key voting block for Hillary.
Obama is also running two 30-second ads, "Carry" and "Toughest." The former focuses primarily on Obama's ability to be bipartisian and features Illinois Republican Senator Kirk Dillard, while the latter promotes Obama's push for ethics reform.
As a little bonus, here are a couple of radio ads the Obama campaign has been running in Pennsylvania. Click here and here to listen.
I have yet to see reports that Hillary has started running ads in Pennsylvania, but as soon as she does I'll be sure to post them.
In anticipation of the upcoming contests in Ohio and Texas, I thought I would give a little roundup of Obama and Hillary's ad campaigns in these two key states.
Both have been pushing hard to get their messages out over the airwaves.
Obama continues to court the Hispanic vote (you can read more about the Hispanic vote here). A Spanish language ad, "Como Padre", is currently running in Texas.
The Obama campaign is also airing "Need", "Enough", "Chances I Had", "Join", "Moment" and "Mother" in Texas and Ohioans can see, "Stock", "Enough", "Choices", "Join", "Need" and, an Obama campaign favorite, "Mother." Of note, half of the ads in Ohio deal directly with economic issues.
Hillary, by no means, has remained silent. Her latest ad, "Resolved", is a one minute segment from last Thursday's debate in Texas, which shows Hillary answering the question, "Describe the moment in your life when you were tested most?" Just yesterday, the Hillary campaign sent out an email asking supporters to donate in order for the campaign to expand the reach of this ad. It is running in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont.
Travis's post last week on the use of text-messaging in 2008 inspired me to provide a quick snapshot of Twitter, another way for presidential candidates to broadcast information to their supporters. The more tech savvy amongst you may already be updating your friends with important information like, "eating chinese" or "driving and should be paying attention to the road." For those that are not familiar with this web tool, here's a little overview.
Twitter is a free service that allows you to send messages to your friends which they can receive as an instant message, a text message or simply through their web browser. While it remains a niche phenomenon, a recent story in the Fashion & Style section of the New York Times has certainly given it some pedigree.
Twitter does more than just facilitate inane missives that keep you abreast of your friend's every move. It was put to use by local residents and news organizations in San Diego during the recent wild fires to provide instant updates ranging from supply needs to the status of the fires. More recently, tech political news junkies were getting their Super Tuesday election results and reactions from a Google Maps and Twitter mashup.
With the notable exception of John McCain, all of the presidential candidates have signed up. As a free service, it's a great way to quickly disseminate information to their supporters as short, 140 character "tweets." Here's a sample of what would show up in your Twitter feed if you were totally agnostic with regard to the candidates.
(I'm as surprised as you are at how active Huckabee has been. Maybe a little more. As I have checked my feed on and off throughout the month, Huckabee has consistently had the most posts.)
As a consequence of Obama's refusal to debate Hillary in Wisconsin, the two campaigns have been engaged in a back-and-forth via TV ads. Today the Hillary campaign has released a response to the Obama response to her initial ad criticising Obama's lack of desire to debate her in Wisconsin. Got all that?
It is not immediatly clear who is coming out ahead as a result of these exchanges, although given Obama's money advantage this can't be helping the Clinton camp's coffers.
And as a little bonus, here is Hillary's latest radio ad (it's a pretty raw copy so you need to skip past the first 10 seconds).
Yesterday, the Hillary campaign began to air an ad in Wisconsin critical of Obama's refusal to participate in a debate and already the Obama campaign has produced an ad of its own for Wisonsin TV, in an effort to parry the Clinton attack.
Obama also has a new radio ad running in Ohio that you can listen to here.
It looks like Hillary is really ratcheting up her investment in Texas with a new ad meant to appeal to military members and families. This marks the fourth ad that the Hillary campaign is running in Texas. Fair or unfair, that fact alone will only further foment comparisons to Giuliani's Florida firewall, although it need not be thought of as her only source of strength given that the latest polls show she is strong in Ohio and Pennsylvania (is the poll moratorium over yet Travis?).
You can take a look at the other ads she is running in Texas here. And while I have yet to see any Texas TV ads from Obama, you can find his radio spot here.
Barack Obama is bringing his economic argument to Wisconsin in an ad called "Enough". In the ad he decries tax breaks for companies that have shifted jobs overseas. It looks like Obama is trying harder to capture those blue-collar voters that have been such a large source of support for Hillary. First, the major policy speech and now this:
The HIllary campaign brings back some old favorites.
"Falling Through" is being shown in Ohio and "Obligation" in Texas and Wisconsin (both are ads which I posted and blogged about here, although "Obligation" has been reworked slightly). I would imagine that the economic emphasis of "Falling Through" is meant to appeal to blue-collar Democrats, a demographic that is said to constitute a large percentage of Democratic voters in Ohio and one which she has done very well with in past contests.
She is also running "Lifetime" and "Dignity" in Texas.
In "Lifetime", Hillary tells us that she will work hard to help people and that she's been working hard to help people. And, if the title is any indication, all this working may constitute a lifetime.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Cesar L. Chavez (Cesar Chavez's grandson) vouch for Hillary and her commitment to helping workers in "Dignity."
Mark Halperin, of The Page, reports that Hillary will also run her Spanish language ad, although the version he links to was made for super Tuesday. (My Spanish understanding isn't so bad as to miss the line at the end of the ad "votemos por Hillary el cinco de Febrero...".) I just wish Hillary gave the "I'm Hillary and I approve this message" in Spanish so I could compare her accent to Obama's. Perhaps I'll need to get Andres to weigh in on this, but I wasn't too impressed with Obama's Spanish. Check out Andres Ramirez's post on Obama's Spanish lanaguage radio ad and judge for yourself.
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