A Very Ron Paul Christmas

Posted by Jason Easley on 12.21.2007

‘Tis the season for political ads?

For weeks the presidential campaigns in both parties have been debating how they were going to handle the holidays. The political campaigns knew that political mudslinging and hardcore advertising could turn voters off this time of year, but what is interesting is how the campaigns have handled their Christmas ads. The hardcore establishment politicians like Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani decided to run campaign ads with a Christmas theme. In my opinion these ads seem too scripted and a bit forced. Clinton's ad was at least cute. Giuliani's ad was disturbing in sort of a "Silent Night, Deadly Night" way. Does anyone think Rudy is looking more like Grandpa Munster every day?

Rudy's Ad



Hillary's Ad



The Remember the Season Ads

The next approach was a holiday message with a more serious theme. These types of ads are typified by John Edwards and John McCain. I liked the message of both ads and you can argue that they were true to form for each of these candidates. Both Edwards and McCain are nationally known faces who are trying to come from behind. Each of them have been running campaigns with a serious tone, but to holiday viewers, these ads could appear to be a bit too serious. McCain's ad is more personal and emotional, and better than Edwards's. I think that both ads are solid, but a little heavy for the season.

John Edwards's Ad



John McCain's Ad



The Christmas Greeting Ads

Call me a sucker, but I like an old fashioned low budget non political family Christmas/holiday greeting. Two campaigns went this route, and the outcome was two excellent ads. In my mind both Barack Obama and Ron Paul got it right. I really like both ads. Although the production value on Obama's ad is a bit higher, Ron Paul's low budget family ad fits him perfectly. I don't like ads that while telling the viewer they aren't political manage to sneak a political message in there. (Obama does sneak his change message in there, but it doesn't sound forced). Perhaps, it is because Ron Paul was born in Western PA like me, or maybe it is because his ad seems the most real. (That is probably because it features his real family), but I like Ron Paul's ad the best.

I ran the Paul ad by my focus group, who conveniently also happens to be my roommates, and Paul's ad got the best response. Obama's ad is excellent. I am taking nothing away from Barack, but the Paul ad is full of family cheer, and most importantly, no politics. If Obama would have filmed this ad this way too, it would have been just as good. So everybody, please enjoy these two ads, and have a very Merry Christmas.

Ron Paul's Ad



Barack Obama's Ad



Notice that I didn't talk about Mike Huckabee, but that is only because I think everyone has seen the ad a million times, and it has already been heavily discussed. Frankly, I could do a whole column on that ad alone.

The Radio Show

The topics for this week's radio show included Ron Paul's fundraising strength. Bill Clinton's attacks on Obama, and the kinder, gentler, Hillary, and why Mike Huckabee is about to learn that independent thought is discouraged in the Republican Party. You can listen live by clicking here, or after the show, you can check it out by using the media player below.