Thursday, February 14, 2008

Positively Negative

So Andy Harris is Moe.  He and his friends at the Club for Growth knocked Wayne Gilchrest’s head so hard against EJ Pipkin’s that they knocked him clear out of Congress.


Harris also proved, yet again, something that we all hate to admit: Negative ads work.


Voters tell you they hate them.  Politicians find euphemisms to describe them – it’s not negative, it’s comparative.  Journalists tut tut at them, but their TV stations and newspapers amplify the attacks by covering the alleged “issues” they raise.  


And then we all go out and elect the guy who ran the most negative campaign.  Happens all the time.


That’s not to say negative ads always work.  During the last Governor’s race, one side spent millions of dollars on multiple ad campaigns pummeling Baltimore City and its then-mayor.  While it probably damaged the local economy – basically inviting people to root against the City’s progress – ultimately, it didn’t succeed.


But year after year… campaign after campaign… negative ads work. 


Just think about the ads we remember years later:  LBJ’s “Daisy” ad, hinting that if given the chance Barry Goldwater might just blow up the world… John Kerry windsurfing back and forth… Swift Boats… Max Cleland linked to Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein… and Willie Horton and Jesse Helms’ “Hands” ads, fanning racial tensions.  


During this year’s presidential campaign, we even saw a candidate call a press conference to announce that he wouldn’t lower himself to run a negative ad.  Then he played the negative ad for the assembled media – which, of course, had the effect of gaining more free coverage for the attack.


Are negative ads good for our democracy?  


The best ones can be entertaining, but of course not.  They stoke cynicism and division – which drives down voter turnout and civic involvement.


So whose fault is it?


Democrats blame Republicans.  Republicans blame Democrats.  And a lot of people blame politicians in general  


Here in Maryland, while the Republicans in the 1st District primary were hammering away at each other, the Democrats in the 4th Congressional District primary were throwing punches, too. 


And for those who would blame politicians, there remains one inconvenient fact: Negative ads produce winning vote totals.  And that’s one problem voters can’t blame on the politicians.


Here are some of the winning ads in the 1st and 4th Districts.  You may notice they all have something in common – and it isn’t their sunny optimism.


1 District

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fFpCjzPJSI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn_daAWSDl0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrCL9loKL9E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7Dn0meXYxk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tCppHcCz_M


4th District

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO87QPR_Diw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc2CVhagZ_8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C3NIa2hrdk



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