attack ads

Growth & Justice, a progressive think tank in Minnesota, just gave Vernon Robinson the "Willie" award for WORST Political Advertisement. The award is "named for the infamous fearmongering Willie Horton ad that led to George Bush defeating Michael Dukakis." See a small clip of U.S. Senate candidates Al Franken and Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer announce the award here.

(cross-posted at dKos)

As most of you know, the North Carolina Republican Party managed to persuade four television stations to air its despicable ad attacking Barack Obama. Unfortunately, we didn't know who they were. Well, now we do, courtesy of the Charlotte Observer.

As most of you guys here in the Charlotte area know, the 9 to midnight slot on WBT--when its 50,000-watt voice blasts across the entire East Coast--belongs to Tara Servatius. There are times when she can be dead on--for instance, talking about Charlotte's growing crime problem and the occasional stumblebum antics with CMS. But other times ... well, let's just say that sometimes she sounds like Rush Limbaugh in a skirt. Like last night, when she had NC Repub chairwoman Linda Daves on for her first hour to talk about the Obama attack ad.

As we get closer and closer to November 7th, the question I have been hearing from Democrats working on the Kissell campaign is What Would the Republicans Do?

This question is asked, of course, in regard to Robin Hayes latest smear running in the form of a television campaign ad. In this ad, Hayes claims that Larry Kissell was fined for running a negative campaign.

Now, anyone who has a television in the 8th district and who actually watches that television during the evening news has seen the ads run by both the Hayes and Kissell campaigns. These 8th district television watchers know without prompting that the only candidate for the 8th district Congressional seat who is running a negative campaign is Robin Hayes.