Tonight, Chris LaCivita visits my class Political Campaign Communications. It is easy to be outraged by the dirty tricks of negative campaigning that LaCivita has been involved in. He was behind the Swift Boat campaign in 2004 and now he is involved in The American Issues Project.
No matter what you think about the dirty tricks LaCivita – and MoveOn.org , SEIU etc. – they are good at putting doubt in the voter’s mind. How good are they? I will get back to this point later!
To prepare for this class, I read this in Washington Post to get an overview of the negative campaign – actually starting later in this cycle than in 2004. Here are some of the ads from both sides of the aisles that have been aired the last few weeks:
Know Enough?
By the American Issue Project
McCain Says We’re Better Off
By Service Employees International Union
My Friends
By MoveOn.org
1 response so far ↓
majorman // September 24, 2008 at 1:52 pm |
I thought Chris LaCivita was really interesting. The way he conducts his ads is like the recent “My friends, I approve this message” skit on Saturday Night Live.