Through no fault of his own, Sen. Barack Obama is seeing his name attached to negative ad after negative ad in the early months of the 2008 presidential campaign.
The most prominent is the “Vote Different” online video that paints one of Obama’s chief rivals, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., as the leader of zombie-like cult. That one hit close to the Obama campaign when the anonymous creator of the video, Phil de Vellis, was exposed as an Internet consultant to the campaign.
The ad closed by referring viewers to the campaign site for Obama, D-Ill. De Vellis said that neither the Obama campaign nor his employer, Blue State Digital, knew he had created the video, and he was fired from his job. Once his identity was known, de Vellis predicted: “This ad was not the first citizen ad, and it will not be the last. The game has changed.”
And indeed it has — especially for Obama, who may have to spend an inordinate amount of time distancing himself from online ads that attack his rivals. The latest examples target Clinton and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. (Ironically, the anti-Clinton ad is running at the Capitol Hill Broadcasting Network alongside a PollingPoint.com ad that asks whether voters support her — and the anti-McCain ad is paired with an ad that directs people to McCain’s Web site.)
The anti-Clinton ad, titled “Say No To Hillary,” recalls the sex scandal that led to the impeachment of her husband, former President Bill Clinton. “If she can’t control her husband,” the 30-second spot asks, “how can she possibly run the country?”
The jab at McCain, dubbed “Vote Different: No McCain,” focuses on his support for the war in Iraq and the policies of President Bush there. “John McCain — wrong on defense, wrong for America,” it says.
Both videos direct viewers to BarackObama.com. It could be a long campaign for Obama if the people who presumably support him keep working hard to make his name synonmous with negative advertising.
Categories: New York, Arizona, Illinois, Producer's Picks, Iraq, Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. John McCain, Sen. Barack Obama, Presidency 2008, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain, AdWatch
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