With the end of the election comes the end of those pesky advertisements North Carolina has been deluged with since the Obama campaign decided North Carolina was a viable state from Bush’s 2004 haul.
It was nearly impossible to get through Monday Night Football, the World Series or any local news broadcast without seeing continuous political ads for races you probably didn’t even realize existed. Through the clutter, there were some pretty good ones — there were also some fairly terrible ones and some pretty funny ones.
Most Effective Ad of 2008 — DSCC’s Dole 92/93
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee sensed blood in the water and poured millions of dollars into Kay Hagan’s campaign against Elizabeth Dole accusing her of something unheard of six years ago in Dole’s initial campaign — inexperience.
The ad featured two older gentlemen in a rocking chair debating whether Dole was 92 or 93, a potentially underhanded play on her age perhaps, but really the percentage of time she voted with President Bush and her “effectiveness rating” in her first term as a U.S. Senator. The ad was folksy enough to stand out to voters and hammered home two numbers, 92 and 93 — which reflected poorly in an election when President Bush is unpopular with the electorate and Congress isn’t held in any higher esteem.
Throwback Ad of 2008 — RNC’s Storm Ad
In 1984 the Reagan campaign ran an ad featuring a bear wandering in the wild with an ominous narrator using the bear as a symbol representing the USSR and questioning whether the American public wanted to elect an inexperienced candidate in contrast to Ronald Reagan. This go ’round, the RNC used an image of stormy seas with a narrator questioning whether or not Obama is experienced enough to lead our country during the tough economic times and through two wars.
Most Controversial Ad of 2008 — Dole’s Godless Ad
Dole caught on to Hagan’s appearance at a fundraiser at the home of a member of the Godless America PAC in Boston, Mass., and used it in an ad to question if Hagan will truly represent North Carolina — a state that might as well be the buckle of the Bible Belt.
Hagan took offense to the ad that suggested she supported the Godless America PAC’s agenda and launched a tremendous counter-attack and even filed a defamation lawsuit against the Dole campaign. The ad received national attention in the New York Times and on cable news channels and put the finishing touches on an election that featured sharp attacks by both sides and millions of dollars of money from outside North Carolina.
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