Good political ad

One of the best things about living outside of the US at election time is that we’re spared the incessant TV election ads. Even so, I’ve seen a fair few, either on YouTube or when shown on a US news programme. The ad above is one of those: I saw it today on the “CBS Evening News”.

In this ad, Democrat Jerry Brown takes an ad from Republican Meg Whitman and turns it on its head simply by pointing out that the good ol’ California she reminisces about and wants to return to had Jerry Brown as Governor!

The rest of the ad is positive messages about Jerry Brown’s campaign points, without slinging any mud. It's one of the best I've seen this year.

To be sure, both candidates have run negative ads, however, the worst, dirtiest negative attack ads have come from special interests—mostly right wing astroturf groups acting as fronts for the corporate elites—who have run terrible ads in California (as they have in other states).

This ad shows it’s possible to run a positive ad and still have a little fun—all without being nasty or negative. Kudos to the Brown campaign.

Full disclosure: If I were a Californian, I’d vote for Jerry Brown. I watched many of his other ads and many of Whitman’s. Some of hers were not negative, or not overly so, at least. But I know too much about Whitman and her background to even consider voting for her. If she had a good commercial, would I post it? Possibly, but only if it was as good as this one—so, no, not likely.