Political Experts React to Hilarious Ads Against Republicans

So your goal is to go viral, but it's got to be so clearly laddered up to a specific campaign objective. And this one very clearly is. This shows like what Democrats can do when they have room to run. Welcome to Political Extras React. We break down political ads and media explain what the people behind them are trying to accomplish and decide whether or not to do a good job. I'm Dan Piper, former communications director from Barack Obama and co-host of Potsade, America. Joining me today is my old friend, and the co-host of the amazing long-play podcast, Jennifer Pomerri. Jennifer Pomerri, how are you? I'm great, it's that nice to see you. I love talking about political ads with you. I know, there are some like ads are really mean. There are so much money being spent, ads are everywhere. There are some actually really interesting ads this cycle, even some interesting ads from Democrats, which is unique in the last cycle. Yeah, well, they have a lot of room. Like when you're when you win the political wins or in your favor, if you like, you have more, you have a lot more room to be creative and take risks. Yes, offices is your defense in politics. Okay, let's start with an ad from Sherrod Brown that went out last week. Listen to this shit. People living in poverty are just not very, they're not very experienced navigating the real world, right? I remember talking to one young lady who said, well, I don't really know how money works at a grocery store because she grew up and has lived all of her adult life using snap cards to buy groceries. And so you literally have to teach people how to budget. Fuck that. I'm Sherrod Brown and I approve this message. What do you think of this ad? I mean, I think it's great. Like the best part of it is it's how people talk and then it's how and the most powerful parts of the ad though are people's, you know, like small facial reactions, right, that can base them much. Like when it's like, she's, you know, she's never been there. She doesn't know how to be because she doesn't, you know, she's used food stamps, whatever she doesn't know. She doesn't know how to do this. Like, so I thought I don't like this swearing, I feel is good. If it's what the person does normally and we know Sherrod Brown is a swearer himself. Like I assume, where's his running? 'Cause like it can't be around television, right? I think you beep it in the TV version. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's like, we don't have to beep it so. Yeah, yeah, what did you think? I think it's great. I think this is such a fascinating race because you have a situation where the challenger is much better known than the incumbent. And so it's so rare that the challenger is trying to define the incumbent. But he instead, so people know, replace JD Vance. He's a, say one official in Ohio, but no one really knew who he was. He's sort of this generic Republican. And being a generic Republican, even in Ohio, it's not really what you want to be right now. And so Sherrod Brown is like filling in the gaps. And so this, so originally they've been hammering him as the guy who brought data centers to Ohio 'cause he worked really hard in his previous job to bring text credits to bring all these data centers to Ohio. And now he's going at this fact that he does not care about people. This is a incredibly damning quote in the way in which they do it. I think it's well done because they play it in its full context as a poet. 'Cause I think when you cut those up, then voters are pretty skeptical of it. But it's, this is like the Mitt Romney 47% remarks where it, when you hear the whole thing, it's quite bad. Also kind of like the Kamala Harris, they then clip, same thing. - They then clip. - Yeah. - Very bad in itself. And so just let the clip play and then let the voters judge. So when you have sort of political opposition, this is op-o goal like that. You just let it run on the sun. - Because I think sometimes the temptation in the past is to clip, just let's clip the worst part because the other stuff is hard to, it's not that interesting to watch. But it's, he's just so awkward and then you just get the sense that he really has no idea what people's lives are actually, are actually like. But to have it and have it played like that where people are just reacting to it is great. - Yeah, it's very, very well done. The Mitt Rom elections are just about a month away. The single best way to track what's happening is to subscribe to my newsletter. The message box where I break down the polls, explain what's happening on the trail and help you understand what matters and what doesn't. If you sign up today at the link in the description, you can get 20% off for a year. - The next ad we're gonna watch is a video from the Abdul-Elsaid campaign in Michigan. - Someone drove a hot dog shaped car through the window. Whose car is this? - Here in Michigan, the same prescription for a Michigan family costs $800. That's four times what the Canadians pay. - We're all trying to find the guy who did this. - The pharmaceutical companies are ripping American families off. - Yeah, come on, whoever did this just get fast. - We promise we won't be mad. - What? - You have to bring prices down. The war with Iran needs to end. - You know what's driving me nuts? It could literally be any one of us. - In the Senate, he'll make AI safety a top priority. - Sir, that's clearly your car. - Wrong. - You're dressed like a hot dog. - Obviously, this guy, right? - Yes. - In case you don't know, this is based on a sketch from Tim Robinson's incredibly funny show. I think you should leave. Tim Robinson is from Michigan, which is why it makes sense here. Even if you're not familiar with the sketch, you may be familiar with the hot dog guy meme, which is like, who did this? Right, and the guy who drove the hot dog shaped car through the window is the guy in the hot dog suit. I think this is incredibly clever. What do you think? - I think it is incredible clever. First, when the first of my sod, I was like, the only thing that I was not certain of was like, oh God, are we really like complaining about pharmaceutical companies again? Like that, just because I feel like people here, a lot of complaints about that, not a lot of solutions about that is that. But when the connection is that real and people are that concerned about it and he's making claims that are not true about it, then I was like, no, like that, that's not, 'cause you expect these, the people who are actually really good campaigners like El Sayed is to not fall in the trap of doing like blah, blah, blah, pull tested stuff. But I mean, the meme, it's just, and I love how long they let it go, too. You know, they don't just do the clip of it, they do the whole thing. And like, what does that tell you? That just gives you a sense of who he is, right? That he's like funny and cool and has, and is gonna approach politics a different way, right? Like, it conveys a lot of things at once. - The, I agree with you on the idea of prescription drugs, although I think it is unique in Michigan because it's on the Canadian drug. - It is, that's what I'm doing. - But it's just like, oh. - Yeah, no, I know, it's like a lemonade task. - It's more challenging. - Yeah, well, 'cause they going back to, you know, in the 2004 Senate race, Debbie Stabenow is like taking people across the border, right? (laughing) You know, that was a classic Michigan move was to get, you know, was to get a bus, invite a reporter, take people across, have them film how much cheaper the prescription drugs were and then bring them back. So, it has like a little more-- - Was it that like sister Simone and none's on the bus? I think that was-- - They did that's in the post, but back in the day, in the late 90s and 2000s, particularly before Medicare Part D, this was a classic Democratic campaign move. The, but I think this is, we have done a few weeks ago, I have Liz Smith on the show and we looked at a video that Abdul did that's been come up from much mockery that was where he, like, plays the character. It's like based on Blues, the TV show Blues Clues about voting, about mail voting. This was for the, for mail ballots before the primary. And I think these two videos are, those two videos are like great examples of what to do and not to do when you're doing content creation as a candidate, which is ultimately, you know, you should be very, you should take lots of risks, you should do lots of interesting things, your goal is to go viral. But it's gotta be so clearly laddered up to a specific campaign objective. - Right. - And this one very clearly is, it is finding a way to make these same arguments they're making in their more traditional linear television ads in a way that has a chance to go viral on TikTok and Instagram and reach a bunch of people, like the way the algorithms work, like people who are interested in sketch comedy might see this ad in their Reels or TikTok or YouTube Shorts feed, which is what you're trying to get. So I think it's very, very smart. Hotsay of America breaking news is brought to you by Zippercrooter. Let's be honest, Zippercrooter is everywhere. Why? Because top talent is everywhere too. Just like you, your ideal candidates are tuning into business sports and podcasts, just like this one. When these candidates hear all these ads, it increases the chances of them going to Zippercrooter and responding to your job posts. So ultimately, you meet them sooner. Of course, you can't meet them unless you go to zippercrooter.com/cricot to try it for free. Once you post your job, Zippercrooter's matching technology finds top talent quickly. And Zippercrooter has a new feature that shows you the most interested qualified candidates first. So you meet them faster. No wonder four out of five employers who post on Zippercrooter get a quality candidate within the first day. But you've got to go to zippercrooter.com/cricot to post your job for free. Again, that zippercrooter.com/cricot. Oh, and if you forget where to go, don't worry. You'll hear another Zippercrooter ad soon enough. - The third hour we're gonna watch is one that's very dear to your heart because it is-- - Yes it is. - It's got a very, very important campaign taking place in the South with a candidate that I believe you interviewed for a long play. So I wanted you to take a look at the ad that tells us a little about this race. This is an ad from Jamie Ager who's running in the second district in North Carolina. Do you know what we need more of in Washington DC? Barn dances. I'm Jamie Ager and Amy and I host these every month. Politicians just dance with the lobbyists. But I'll take a good mountain hold down any day. in Congress. I'll invest in Western North Carolina again by taking on corporate greed that raises our costs and I'll fight for our Haleem recovery funds. I approved this message because it's timely turned things around. I know you got to love this ad. So good. So good. Well, first of all, like I remember when I first went, I went to that bar and I interviewed him in that bar and though his farm is called hit your dance gap. We did not. We did not dance, but like, it's called Hickory Nut Gap Farms. And I'm like, didn't fight for be like, is this like Appalachian madlibs like this farm. But it actually has been in his family for a very long time. And so this is great because like, first of all, this shows, there's a lot of things that show how smart Jamie Acres. So this shows like what Democrats can do when they have room to run, right? Like he is not, you know, he is all he's trying to do basically is show you he is one of you, even though he's a Democrat. And this is a conservative area. He is a Western with Carolina guy that, you know, has more dances. The thing, but like, here's some smart things that he did in there. I happen to know he also plays guitar. He's immune to any, and he will prefer, he performs in his barn and he performs like for fundraisers and stuff like that. But he's smart enough to know not to have himself playing guitar and like being, you know, been, and like, having a cringe moment like that. So and the dancing is like his main fun of himself. So that's all that's all good. And then this is, and then he manages to get message in there, you know, his whole thing is he is basically running against Michael Watley because Michael Watley was in charge of clean recovery. So that is a huge issue. And he was at his. And so, and because Watley is the Senate candidate, it is very prominent as an issue in addition to the fact that the people are still suffering from bullying there. So that is a huge issue for him. And then the and and his his opponent had to drop out and come up remember Congress for sexually harass. Oh, wait for it. Shocking. Secondly, harassing his staff. And then the new candidate. Have you seen her ad Jennifer Bell come on. Oh, wait, I have, I think I have seen this ad. Tell me about this is the one where she says she's like, here's my mom. Oh, she shot the first house. And she's tough. And I'm tough. And my mom shot an intruder. Cause that's what we do. We protect our families. And it's like the whole point of the ad is that her mom, the not even her, but her mother shot an intruder. So when you see like which one of these ads is, you know, they're both going viral, which one of these ads is like conveying Western North Carolina. Like Jamie does a good job of it. And the other thing with Jamie is he's able to run as an outsider as a true farmer, 25 years, multi generations. But he does come from a political family. His grandfather was a member of Congress. His brother is in the state legislature. This is a big political family in Western North Carolina. But he's smart enough to like not, he's close enough to know what not to do and far enough a way to be authentic. Yeah, this is this ad is like no notes. It's basically perfect. It is like it conveys. He's not a typical Democrat, a Washington Democrat can take conveys. He's not a politician. It conveys that he is from Western North Carolina in every sense of the phrase. And it has a corruption, anti-Washington message in it. And then you just add in the Helene recovery stuff at the end. It's like we're just really, really, really well done. It's an ad that will stick with people when they see it on TV because the people's TVs are filled with ads in North Carolina. Oh my god. And the Senate racist spend instead of racist. They're not spending as much as you're getting in Ohio or Texas. But there is a lot, a lot of money is being spent. And you see, I mean, it's actually you're seeing a fair amount of Democratic ads because Cooper's raised so much money. But it's like Senate ad, Senate ad, Senate ad, Senate ad, Congressional ad, there's a bunch of hacks playing here. And so your ad really has to stick out. And this one really sticks out in a clever way. Yeah, and and he just is a very appealing guy too. So they know how to just, you know, they know how to present him in a way that he's standing out from from others in his aw shucks kind of way. Yeah, Jennifer Paul Mary. Thank you for joining us. Everyone go check out long play. It is an incredible series. You can tell people where they can get it and what's coming up with long play. So it's a crooked audio podcast. And then also it's at the youtube.com/atlongplayseries. We're interviewing Haley Shaw for this week. The Arkansas Senate candidate, which would be cool. And then we're getting ready to go back out on the road in the middle of October and do a bunch of, you know, figure out to go. I think we'll probably, I mean, we're figuring that out now. I think we need to go to Florida. Now, right? Like anti-Nixon and David Jolley, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, up. Please go back to. Yep. So long play, as I should have said to the outset, is a series of the politics of the South. You went all around the country, you met lots of people. You, if you want to go deep on a lot of the races that I know people are watching, like Georgia and Texas, check out long play. Yeah. And when we made the decision to do this, it was, you know, it's called long play because we think winning the South is a long play. Got it. Got it. Got it. Got it. Got it. Did you get that, Dan? Also, we like you think. But it turns out it is like the hot bed. I thought the Midwest was going to be the most competitive hotbed spot for the midterms. And it turns out that it is, in fact, the South. So you have like all of this races now, Florida. This like Arkansas Senate race is interesting and the Andrews is, you know, we've talked about her. That's still, that's an interesting race in South Carolina. So we're going to go, we'll continue with weekly podcasts, but then go back out in the road in two weeks and be on the road and through the election. Yeah. All right. Everyone check it out. Jennifer Poemari. Always great to talk to you. And I'll see you again soon. Sure. Thanks. [BLANK_AUDIO]