Monday, April 7, 2008

Clinton ad begins Tuesday; Obama debuts new spot; SBB yawns

The first Hillary Clinton TV spot to run in Indiana will debut on Tuesday, four weeks ahead of the May 6 primary. Today's Journal Gazette reports that the ad carries an endorsement from Sen. Evan Bayh:

On TV ads that will appear statewide beginning Tuesday, Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., says Clinton has a “spine of steel” and will change the North American Free Trade Agreement that cut barriers to trade with Canada and Mexico.
Here's the ad:


Does the spot work? Well, if you like Evan Bayh and you like Hillary Clinton, you'll probably like it. If you don't like either one of them, you probably won't. If you like Bayh but not Clinton, then you'll probably still like Bayh despite his endorsement of Clinton. (I know--this is exactly the kind of insightful commentary you look for from SBB. I aim to please.)


And if you like Barack Obama, you'll probably like his new spot:




True to the consistency that brand Obama has demonstrated throughout the campaign, the new spot is very similar to his prior Indiana ad:



My take is that both Obama ads and the Clinton ad are pretty ho-hum. No one's taking any chances. No one's telling us anything we don't know already. And no one is likely to change anyone's mind.

The biggest impact these ads probably will have on Indiana voters, in fact, is that they'll make air time much more expensive, and inventory much harder to come by, during the next month. The big winners, then, are our friends at 21/33 and 15.

Hat tip: Taking Down Words

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