Worst Ads of this election cycle!

Ads what are they good for?

I have been watching TV a lot recently to see all the attack advertisements that the campaigns have been rolling out in the last week. With Election Day on Tuesday this week has been an ad blitz by the campaigns in the battle ground states.

I have never believed that political advertisements are persuasive or actually effect the vote totals yet millions of dollars have been spent on advertising this year. The negative ads are always the worst and believed to be the most persuasive by campaigns.

I found this article from the Flackcheck.org that effectively highlights some of the worst and most controversial ads of this election cycle.

The LA Times has a good list of other ads from this year as well.

What do you think of the political ads? Do they change your mind?

Here is a picture of the spending amounts for this presidential election compared to 2008.

Social Media and Politics!

What role does Facebook play in politics?

Odds are that you have heard all about the ideas that social media is a means of political engagement. Well the Pew Research Center has been "studying on the social impact of the internet." They conducted research on the impact of Facebook on the spread of political information. Understanding how the public uses Facebook for political speech can help understand what the future of civic engagement will be. 


"Here are the key findings in a recent nationally representative survey: 

38% of those who use social networking sites (SNS) or Twitter use those social media to “like” or promote material related to politics or social issues that others have posted. Liberal Democrats who use social media are particularly likely to use the ‘like’ button—52% of them have done so and 42% of conservative Republicans have also done so.
35% of social media users have used the tools to encourage people to vote. Democrats who are social media users are more likely to have used social media to encourage voting—42% have done that compared with 36% of Republican social-media users and 31% of independents.
34% of social media users have used the tools to post their own thoughts or comments on political and social issues. Liberal Democrats who use social media (42%) and conservative Republicans (41%) are especially likely to use social media this way."

To see the entire survey and its findings follow this link.

Upon learning this i would like to know what your reactions are to the finding? 

Do you feel that Facebook and Twitter are the future of civic engagement? 

Do you pay attention to the political posts and groups?

Beware the Romney Ad Machine!

It is not surprising seeing all of the coverage of Mitt Romney in the past week cause a slight dip in the polls because of the missteps this past week. The election is far from over though. I have seen new ads from the Romney campaign that may possible bring more voters to his side. The topic of these new ads, that will be run in the battle ground states, is the United States coal industry and the effects that the Obama administration policies have had so far and threaten to do in the future. Romney is truly showing that he can fight back and will be using his energy policy to show how Americans are not better off than they were 4 years ago.

The debate here is over the effect of the Clean Air Act on the United States coal industry. With higher regulations on emissions and the financial burdens that these regulations have on power plants have basically made building new coal fired power plants too expensive of a venture. Not to mention the continued regulations and inspections that would come with operating the plant. It is the Romney campaigns position that these regulations restrict business growth.  The noose of governed regulation should be loosened to allow for small business growth and the creation of new jobs. This message is very apparent in the new advertising and will no doubt bolster support for Romney in blue collar and rural america.

Watch these ads. Listen to the message that is being portrayed and you will see that they are powerful.  The Election is no where near over just because of a couple missteps. I can already see Romney trying to use his mistakes to change the message back to the economy and tax policy. Both issues that the GOP brand that continues to resonate with the American public.