McCain v Obama: ad wars, pt 2

Last Modified: 25 Sep 2008
By: Channel 4 News

Although the financial crisis has benefitted Obama he still has to press home his advantage, says James von Leyden.

The Wall Street crisis changed everything.

Half of registered voters say the economy and jobs are now the most important issues in the campaign.

And that suits Barack Obama just fine.

On 17 September, in the middle of the meltdown, Obama bought an ambitious two-minute slot on national cable TV aimed at the battleground states.

'Plan for change'

Called Plan for change, it features Obama talking to camera. He declares that now is the time for seriousness.

"The truth is that while you've been living up to your responsibilities, Washington has not. That's why we need change. Real change.

This is no ordinary time and it shouldn't be an ordinary election. But much of this campaign has been consumed by petty attacks and distractions that have nothing to do with you or how we get America back on track."

He then proceeds to outline his plans: tax breaks for the middle class; regulation to end the "anything goes" culture on Wall Street; energy independence; a crackdown on lobbyists and an end to the war in Iraq "so we stop spending billions each month rebuilding their country when we should be rebuilding ours."

Although Obama is on much stronger ground with the economy than John McCain, Obama's detailed, forensic approach does not make for good sound bites.

To paraphrase the old advertising maxim: tell people one thing and they'll remember it; tell them five things and they'll remember nothing.

It's a lesson Hillary Clinton took to heart when she made healthcare her signature issue.

Obama scores better when it comes to attack. Here his message is starting to resonate with voters: after eight years of a failed Republican administration John McCain represents more of the same. It's a rare Obama commercial that doesn't feature a shot of John McCain backslapping with George W Bush.

'Article'

A 30-second Obama spot released on 21 September, Article attempts a triple whammy: the economy, the Bush connection and healthcare.

The ad opens with a split-screen image: on the top, John McCain with President Bush, below the logos of Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Fannie Mae.

The voiceover says "We've seen what Bush-McCain policies have done to our economy. Now John McCain wants to do the same to our health care."

The ad refers to an article in Contingencies magazine in which McCain praises Wall Street deregulation and declares that he wants to do the same for the health industry, "a prescription for disaster".

The ad ends with an image of, surprise, surprise, George W. Bush, with his arm around John McCain.

With the Wall Street debacle exposing McCain's weak flank, his team has tried to link Barack Obama with the ex-chief executives of bankrupt mortgage giant Fannie Mae.

'Advice'

Advice declares that Obama, who has "no background in economics", received advice on mortgage and housing policy from discredited former CEO Franklin D. Raines, under whom Fannie Mae committed "extensive financial fraud".

The McCain attacks backfired after The New York Times reported that McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis received nearly $2m as president of an advocacy group established by the mortgage giants to fight stricter regulation.

A far better strategy for McCain's team, perhaps, would be to concentrate on what they excel at: the cheeky, irrelevant jibe.

'Obama Chavez'

Right on cue last Friday, with the economy facing the biggest disaster since the great depression, the McCain camp put out a one-minute spot: Obama Chavez.

Aimed at Spanish-speaking voters in Florida the commercial shows footage of Hugo Chavez screaming: "Go to hell, you filthy Yankees", intercut with shots of Barack Obama stating that he wants to meet Chavez, "without preconditions".

Karl Rove would have been proud.

Right now, McCain needs to get maximum bangs for every buck of advertising.

As the campaign enters its final weeks he is being heavily outspent by Obama.

With a $460m war chest, twice the size of McCain's, Obama has ramped up his spending on TV advertising by 50 per cent over the last fortnight.

The Democrat candidate is not only spending more heavily, he is also spending more widely.

His aim is to increase the number of battleground states from the core 12 to 15 to as many as 25.

By buying airtime in Republican states such as Alaska and Indiana, Obama is forcing McCain to defend states he would normally have taken for granted.

McCain is hamstrung on fundraising by his own 2002 legislation aimed at overhauling campaign financing. Unlike Obama, he agreed to restrict himself to public funding.

One way around this is to make the most of loopholes, for example by inviting voters to contribute to thinly-disguised front organisations for McCain and Palin.

Another way is to stop advertising altogether.

Yesterday McCain said he would halt all advertising, fundraising and other campaign events to return to Washington and work for a bipartisan solution to the financial emergency.

Meanwhile Obama's cash pile is burning a hole in his pocket.

James von Leyden is a copywriter and brand strategist.