Brett Lieberman of the Patriot-News:
Pennsylvania's already nasty U.S. Senate election took a decidedly negative turn yesterday after U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum's campaign began airing a television commercial portraying Democrat Robert P. Casey Jr.'s supporters as a bunch of criminals puffing cigars in a prison cell.
Casey's campaign and Democrats immediately condemned the ad as a smear attempt and sign of desperation. Independent analysts said the ad broke ground for nasty attacks in the election, which is expected to involve many more negative tactics.
And there's some analysis:
The ad fails to mention that the contributions were to Casey's state campaigns and they all came before any of the individuals were under investigation. None of the men is involved in Casey's Senate campaign, aides said.
Two of the men have donated to Santorum's campaign. Santorum gave the money to charity, a campaign spokeswoman said. One of the men is dead.
And then quotations from Poli-Sci professors:
"The ad does go a bit far in terms of taking things out of context," said Muhlenberg College pollster Chris Borick. "All negative ads are based upon this tactic, but this one goes farther than most."
Robin Kolodny, a political science professor at Temple University, said, "The press will and probably should call on Santorum for the accuracy of the ads."
Huh. Is it playing well anywhere??
7 comments:
last night on hardball the were discussing negative ads and they had research that shows that negative ads for the most part, do work. they also said the vast majority of negative ads come from republican camps and that they make no bones about the fact that they will continue using them.
ricky's ads are pretty low, but i still think the ones aimed against cleland, saying that he was so greviously wounded in vietnam because he was PLAYING with a grenade and not being a hero and saving his fellow soldiers is just the lowest so far.
Yup, negative ads work. So Casey's gotta get in the mix and hit lil' Ricky back, and hit him back quick.
But what does it say about the character of a canidate who participates in basically elementary school behavior - name calling, lies and distortions? I'm far more likely to vote for a canitdate who does NOT sink to negative ads to win. I will admit however, that I am probably in the minority there. That is just one of many many problems with this country...
More fun with the Santorum hypocrisy machine:.
A Big Fat Slob, posting anonymously because Google has screwed up with Blogger Beta – DON’T CONVERT!!!
they also said last night that if your opponent is not well defined it works to jump in and "fill in the blanks" before he or she can define themselves and their positions for the voters. that they say is what was done to kerry and that it is often done by republicans because studies show that it works.
me, yes i tend to like people that take the high road, but i am glad that casey's responses are coming soon after ricky's attacks and that the seem measured and not shrill or childish. casey has to respond to each new charge as soon as possible.
the negitive adds only work if u beive in them
i mean belive them
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