Recent Political Ads

Perhaps Republicans are finally starting to do something better: be entertaining.

Recently several ads have hit the airwaves (or, just YouTube) that are memorable and address their audiences well.

The first comes from the Iowa Republican senate race.  The candidate is Joni Ernst, who has been a member of the Iowa Senate since 2011.  She is also a Lt. Colonel in the Iowa Army National Guard and spent 14 months in Kuwait and southern Iraq running convoys for Operation Iraqi Freedom.  And she's been endorsed by Sarah Palin.  Basically, she deserves your support.  Here's her hilarious ad:


The message is simple: "There is too much pork in Washington and I know exactly where to start cutting."  Why aren't feminists rallying around  her?!  But seriously, it's funny, it's clever, and it sells very well to her audience: Iowa Republicans.  Remember, she's trying to win a primary right now.  She needs to demonstrate that she's both qualified and conservative.  Between the two terms in the state senate and her experience in the military, she's qualified.  This ad is a good start at demonstrating she's conservative.  Iowa has become in play after Senator Tom Harkin's announced retirement, and Republicans have been given help by the lone Democrat candidate who recently mocked Iowa's other senator for being a farmer without law degree.  Ernst can win the nomination and the general election.

Next up is state senator Matt Rosendale who is running for Montana's lone representative to the U.S. House.  Rosendale served one term in Montana's House and is currently serving his first term in the state's senate.  Rosendale's path to the nomination is blocked by Navy SEAL Ryan Zinke.  To gain attention, this ad featuring Rosendale was released:


Well that gets your attention.  Keep in mind that whoever wins the nomination is all but guaranteed the job in the fall.  It's a statewide election in a deep red state that has had a penchant for electing Democrats to non-presidential positions, but is starting to come around.  With that in mind, Rosendale will obviously get attention, followed by name recognition for this ad.  While I support Ernst in Iowa, I can't truly say Rosendale is my guy in Montana.  Zinke appears to be an incredible candidate.  Without digging any further, it seems like Montana has at least a couple good options for the House.

Finally, we have Tom Cotton, who is currently serving his first term in the U.S. House after reaching the level of captain in the United States Army.  He enlisted in the Army after earning his law degree from Harvard (which came after graduating magna cum laude from Harvard with a Bachelor's in government).  Cotton is looking to take on Mark Pryor in deep red Arkansas.  Arkansas reelected Pryor in 2008 during the great Obama wave (though Arkansas still voted nearly 59% for John McCain).  Pryor's been kicking around in Arkansas politics back to when the south was still fairly blue, but this time around pundits are heavily favoring Cotton.  For some odd reason, Senator Pryor felt like saying Cotton has a "sense of entitlement" after having served his country in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Huh?  How would Cotton fire back?  This will do:


Well done, Tom Cotton, well done.  It's clever, it's not angry, and it shows a sense of humor.  Cotton is on the cusp of political stardom.  He is only 36, holds a J.D. from Harvard, has served in the military and is largely embraced by both the establishment and conservative wings of the GOP.  He is pretty much unopposed in the primary, and is already focused on facing Senator Pryor in November.  Polls have leaned towards Cotton, and this seat has long been considered the most vulnerable for Democrats.

This slew of ads over the past few weeks have been very entertaining!  I imagine we'll see a few more over the course of the few months, and I'll make sure to highlight them here.

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