Carly Fiorina Plays The "Ma'am" Card Just Right

When you have a killer piece of video against your opponent, the easiest thing to do is overplay your hand.

Team Carly has been sitting on the "Call me Senator" clip for months waiting for the right time to use it. (This clip really sticks in my craw, because I live in Texas where "ma'am" is always an appropriate term of address, but never mind.)

In this spot from Fred Davis' Strategic Perception, the clip is handled exactly right. It's played in context and features a short, but stinging rebuke nicely delivered by the candidate.

Instead of a personal attack, they use the clip to jujitsu Washington arrogance as a whole. Nice edit and terrific performance by Carly. (But she's spoiled us all cycle.) Tip of the beret to the cinematographer who put Carly in a dramatic light while still keeping an approachable look.

Grade: A (My first "A" of the cycle, besides the ones I gave myself)

Click here to watch and learn

Charlie Crist Draws The Line

How do you explain why you changed your party affiliation to Independent without using the words "because I was going to lose the Republican primary?"

Charlie Crist does a pretty decent job of it in this spot called "Line In The Sand." He shot it on a beach in Florida and uses the sand as a nice device to get his point across. Love him or hate him, Charlie delivers on camera.

But hey, what's the deal with the snap-zoom into Charlie when he speaks? Seems like there are two mandatories for every Charlie Crist spot:

1. Put Charlie in a light blue golf shirt
2. Snap zoom into Charlie when he speaks

It's hokey camera work in an otherwise nice spot.

Click here to see "Line In The Sand"

Jerry Labriola Tries To Be So Bad It's Good

The budget for the Old Spice commercials are probably north of a million dollars a piece. The budget for Jerry Labriola's "spoof" (nice word for "stolen") is north of about a hundred.

I don't even know what to say. Except stealing is bad. In this case, really bad.

Make sure you have an empty stomach and click here to watch "Anything Is Possible"

Rick Perry: A Good Actor In A Bad Movie

Sometimes you go to the movies and you wonder, how on earth did that guy wind up attached to that piece of trash? That's what's going on with Rick Perry's new commercial.

Love him or hate him (there are lots of folks on both sides), you have to admit Rick Perry's a pretty decent actor. Looks good, hits his marks, takes direction, camera likes him, etc.

Even the message is good. "Texas Is Open For Business" is a solid piece of strategic writing.

But it's the space between concept and execution that separates the good from the bad.

The idea is completely sabotaged by a lackluster, flat video look, some amateurish color correction and some set ups that make us want to pull out the Flock of Seagulls cassettes. And why is the candidate in the exact same wardrobe in every single shot?

A major race ($2 million a message for media) in a major state (that happens to be home to several Hollywood network TV productions) should look a whole lot better.

Grade: C

Click here to watch "Open For Business"

Christine O'Donnell Has A Few Complaints About Mike Castle

Okay, for those of you who say I only pick on Democrats, today is your lucky blog day.

Christine O'Donnell, locked in a rock 'em-sock 'em Senate primary battle with Mike Castle, is up with a spot that can only be described as ten pounds of polling data in a five pound bag.

Too many copy points with too many standard-issue political spot graphics all over the screen. It looks like a 30-second ransom note.

We like Christine O'Donnell, she's the kind of fiesty candidate that keeps politics fun. But just because you're running in a small state doesn't mean you have to look small. Good spots and bad spots, they all cost the same. This just isn't US Senate caliber work.

Grade: D

Click here to watch "Castle"

Joe Wilson Calls In The Marine(s)

MoveOn.org has decided to play in a South Carolina Congressional race giving money to Rob Miller.

Needless to say, MoveOn.org isn't really popular in South Carolina. Especially with military folks. General Jim Livingston goes on TV to have a Marine-to-Marine talk with Rob Miller about giving the money back. Sounds convoluted, but the general makes it work.

His performance is an A, the graphics are a C. We'll give it a B.

Click here to see "General Livingston"

Ted Strickland Breaks New Creative Ground

In his latest attack ad, Ted Strickland uses grainy black and white slow motion images of his opponent, hokey After Effects tricks on cheap stock photos and red bars with blocky, poorly set type.

Then, he kicks it up a notch by using a shot of the US Capitol in the background and invoking China.

I think the bar has been set.

Grade: D

Click here to endure "Revolving Door"

Jerry Brown Changes Course, Goes Positive

After the unions have poured millions into a negative TV blitz on Jerry Brown's behalf, Jerry Brown has decided to do something crazy – go positive.

In Jerry's first spot, he brings back the good old days. Emphasis on old since many voters weren't born yet or are now too old to remember Jerry's actual record. The spot itself is a 70's throwback that drags production values down to the basement using cheap, if not free, stock footage and a very uninspiring turn with Jerry talking straight to the camera.

If you can bore people into voting for you, Jerry's in.

Check out "Jerry"

Patty Murray Tries To Turn Lemons Into Wenatchee Lemonade

Patty Murray has a little problem. Like a lot of senators who have made their careers on their ability to haul pork back home, Patty now has to justify all the pork hauling.

Trouble is, that ain't easy.

In this testimonial spot, Karl Struble sets the "way back" machine for 1995 and turns what should be an emotional story about saving lives in Washington to a generic hospital commercial with no heart. Where are the patients whose lives were saved? Where are the people telling the heartwarming stories?

Instead, Struble gives us people in scrubs whipping out old bromides like "she really came through for us" and "she cut through the red tape" combined with b-roll shots of Patty nodding as people pretend to talk to her.

Free tip of the day: you can't bore people into voting for you.

Grade: D

Click here to watch "Wenatchee"

Now Here's How It's Done: Our New Ad for the RGA

From the guiltless self-promotion department, here's a new ad we produced for the RGA in Georgia.

If you make political ads, please take notes:
- a negative ad does not have to be red, gray and black
- a negative ad does not have to use an ugly picture of the opponent
- a negative ad can be designed and art directed to look interesting

This, boys and girls, is how it's done.

Click here to watch "Iron Fist"

Robin Carnahan Takes Her Best Shot

Arguably the least talented member of the Carnahan political clan, Robin's running behind Roy Blunt and clearly pressing the panic button.

In this shot, for some strange reason titled "Mug," Team Carnahan takes all the best hits and jams them all in one boring, poorly art directed ad.

Like every boring political hit ad it features a stunning color palette of black, red and gray set off with the use of headlines shown on torn bits of paper. Groundbreaking.

This is a campaign in trouble and these ads show it.

Click here to watch "Mug"

Media Matters Isn't So Good At The Whole Media Thing

Okay, maybe I'm missing the point here.

Maybe Media Matters is trying to make a stand by running an ad critical of Fox News on Fox News. Fine, I get it. But when I look at this spot, I just see 30 seconds of my life I'm not getting back.

A waving American flag with a line that starts off with "A Special Message"? All set in a dull typeface that's improperly spaced and kerned by someone who doesn't know what the word "kern" means?

Honestly, you couldn't have done one single thing more than open up iMovie and jam in some type? An iStock image? A shot of a barking dog? Anything?

I'm sure this a point to all this, but I'm not getting it.

Click here to watch "Media Matters"

One Word For Charlie Crist

Charlie's up with a positive ad that Frank Luntz called the worst ad he's ever tested. Since I almost never agree with Luntz, I expected to see genius. Unfortunately, I will now have to type some words that are very, very difficult:

I agree with Frank Luntz.

There, I said it. This ad from Crist is the old gag where you just use single words from people and cut it into something. Have I used the "one word" trick before? Yes. Have I used it for 30 whole seconds? No. Did I do it in such a way that not one salient point was made? No. And did I bookend it with graphics that look they were made by someone using a Commodore 64? No.

But Charlie did.

I know it's popular to jump on Charlie right now, but this time, he has it coming.

Click here to watch "One Word"

Harry Reid's "Extreme" Is Extremely Bad

Okay, you're running against an opponent who spends all day, every day giving you ammunition to pummel them. With things like "Social Security violates the Ten Commandments" and "a Scientology massage program for prisoners" you have attack ad gold, right?

Wrong. Harry Reid can't even do attack ads right.

In "Extreme" he takes a dream collection of hits, illustrates them dreary, cheap stock shots and wraps them all up with "She's just too extreme."

Harry, demand a refund from the agency. Seriously.

Grade: D

Click here to watch "Extreme"

Rick Scott Has A Plan For Jobs, No Plan For This Spot

We think Rick Scott would make a dandy governor for Florida, but this TV commercial couldn't get you elected President of the Paris Hilton Fan Club. (And you'd be running unopposed for that one.)

Theoretically, the spot is about Scott's plan to bring jobs to Florida, but the visuals look he spend the afternoon rummaging through the trash can behind the Florida Board of Tourism.

They probably meant it to be a lovely pastiche of Florida vistas, but it really doesn't work. Especially when Rick's plea to phase out the business income tax is illustrated by a waist down shot of a woman in white slacks.

Grade: D

Check out "Jobs"

Kendrick Meek Goes Out With A Bang

For some reason, we are obsessed with Kendrick Meek, the presumptive loser in the upcoming Florida Senate race. Oh sure, he'll beat the pants off Jeff Greene tomorrow (Meek is leading by double digits), but that's not stopping him from going out swinging.

At somebody. Anybody.

Your typical endorsement/closer ad turns negative hit machine at the :15 mark. What can we say? It's another nice hit ad from the Meek campaign.

Grade: B

Click here to see "Endorse"

NRSC Scores A Political Ad Guy First

Okay, I rarely put up web videos because, well, they suck. Here's a rare exception from the RNC where the message is clear, the type is small and tasteful and the video doesn't try to co-opt (read "steal") and idea from an existing TV spot or movie.

Grade: B

Check out "Extreme"

You Know Those Funny Viral Videos? Daniel Freilich Didn't Make One

Up until Labor Day every tin foil hat wearing nut job who found enough change in the couch to pay the filing fee thinks he has a chance to win. Thanks to the magic of the Internet, they get to share their madness with us.

You've probably seen the funny viral videos that no-buck candidates have put up this cycle. This isn't one. The only thing more tragic than some idiot trying to co-opt a popular commercial (listen up everyone who has ever used the word "priceless" in a political ad), is someone who knocks off a popular spot so badly that it makes me want to carve out my own eyeballs with a fork.

Vermont's Daniel Freilich has created such a commercial.

Grade: F

Watch "Look At Me." Don't blame me if you gouge out your own eyes. Sorry.

Bill Binnie Goes All Ponzi On Kelly Ayotte

When John Sununu told the candidates not to go negative in the four-way NH primary, Bill Binnie must have heard "go all negative." In two spots out today, Binnie features the victims of a Ponzi scheme to fire one across the bow of his opponent (and race leader) Kelly Ayotte.

The spot consists of touching stories from people who were fleeced in the scheme. Unfortunately, these stories are presented as if they were shot on someone's cell phone. These victims and their stories deserve better.

Grade: C

Click here to watch "Victims"

Scott Walker Hates Trains, Not So Crazy About Obama

Wisconsin's Scott Walker is trying to do a spot with Obama, wasteful spending, a federally funded high-speed rail project and potholes.

Somehow, he made it work.

Here's the deal: people hate negative ads and, generally speaking, they kind of like Obama, the guy. This spot does a nice job of dropping a bomb on the opponent and trivializing Obama without having a mean edge.

Walker does a nice job on camera, too. (Although, for God's sake Scott, stop bouncing on the balls of your feet when you finish lines, you're running for governor not auditioning for David Hasselhoff.)

Oddly enough, the star of the spot is a brown paper bag. The website is shown practically with the URL written on a brown bag sitting in a pothole. A double mnemonic that actually works. Very smart.

Grade: A (I don't give many As, so I'll expect a "thank you" note)

Check out Scott Walker's "Stop The Train"