November 6th, 2006
Now on YouTube: Attack ads and rebuttals
One cool thing about YouTube is that practically every campaign posts its campaign ads on the site. And of course debate videos and the like are there too. So when you hear about a controversial campaign - like the debate over an attack ad on Democrat Harold Ford in Tennessee, you can go online and view the ads for yourself.
The Wall Street Journal has a wrap-up of the meanest debates being played in video this campaign season, complete with links to the vids on YouTube. Of the Tennessee ads, the Journal explains:
The most attention to any political ad this season has gone to a Republican National Committee-financed ad featuring a white woman who says she met Mr. Ford at a Playboy party; she ends the ad with a wink, saying, "Harold, call me."
The Ford campaign and the NAACP jumped on the ad, which first aired Oct. 20, saying it meant to play on racial fears. The Corker campaign also denounced it, and the ad was taken off the air on Oct. 25. A quasi-independent group — financed by the RNC, but operating independently — created the commercial, according to the RNC. The latest data: A Reuters/Zogby poll taken Oct. 24-31 — the RNC ad ran Oct. 20-25 — shows Mr. Corker with 53% of the vote and Mr. Ford with 43%.
Racist? Offensive? See for yourself: . And Ford's response.
