Demagogue

In a report this week (subscription req'd), political analyst Charlie Cook reflects on Campaign 2004 and poses this interesting question:

... for all the hundreds of millions of dollars spent in each election cycle on television advertising, how much of it is wasted on formulaic ads that look and sound alike and lack even the slightest bit of creativity?

As I sat in perhaps 100 hotel rooms over the last year in more than three dozen states, my reaction to so many Senate, House, gubernatorial and even presidential campaign ads was wondering how that media consultant thought anyone might be influenced in any way by that advertisement. A great many are an insult to the intelligence of voters.

... Too many ads today are boilerplate, straight out of the cookie cutter, and they hardly get noticed by voters.

It wasn't always the case. Many, though not all, of the first- and second-generation media consultants were originally filmmakers. They learned a craft and then applied it to politics.

Those who came to know and understand politics then brought their craft to television advertising, telling a story and making a convincing case why their client was a unique and compelling figure and why voters would be lucky to have that person as an elected official.

I've always thought that negative ads were fairly easy to do .... It is in the realm of positive advertising that the greatest deterioration has occurred. It is an almost lost art.