Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) has an incredible new ad out — rehiring the actors who appeared in a popular Democratic ad from 2008, with their characters talking about how they bungled it last time.
Back in 2008, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee ran ads featuring two down-home old men on a porch, talking about how ineffectual and pro-Bush Sen. Elizabeth Dole was. The ad picked up a lot of attention. When election day finally rolled around, Dole lost to Democrat Kay Hagan by a 53%-44% landslide, and Barack Obama carried the state against John McCain by a margin of less than one percent — the first Dem to carry the state for president since Jimmy Carter in 1976.
Now Burr’s campaign has headhunted those two old men actors, snatching them away from the Dems for the incumbent’s new spot, clearly aimed at voters who might have buyer’s remorse. “Boy we sure got it wrong last election,” the first man says.
The second man follows: “Some hope and change! Bad economy, lost jobs, more government spending, bigger debt. Who’s going to pay the bills?” A younger woman then chimes in that she’s going to pay the bills, and she and the old men all agree that Burr is now the candidate for them.
This ad should at least be in the running for the best spot of the whole 2010 cycle — simply for the pure ingenuity of its concept.
The TPM Poll Average shows Burr leading Democratic nominee Elaine Marshall by 42.5%-38.0%, with 6.4% for Libertarian candidate Mike Beitler.
And here’s the original DSCC ad:
Eric Kleefeld
Eric Kleefeld joined TPM as an intern for the final months of the 2006 midterm elections, and then kept showing up for work. His other interests include guitars, old comic books and the politics of various English-speaking countries.
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