PREPARATION

McCain's Attack Ad Man Has Plans For Obama

by Neil Munro

Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2008


Television ads are the background rhythm of a presidential campaign, and Republican Sen. John McCain's drummer -- ad man Fred Davis -- is already accelerating the beat and playing his signature riffs.

He has in the works a television ad that contrasts Democratic nominee Barack Obama's life as a politician in Chicago with that of his half-brother in Kenya, who lives in a shack on an unpaved street. Davis, chairman of Strategic Perception, McCain's advertising firm, said that the images are meant as a sharp-edged counterpoint to a theme in Obama's acceptance speech last week, in which he declared, "I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's keeper."

Davis has also begun filming for ads that will feature vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, Alaska's governor. He says that Palin will do terrifically in the ads: She has an optimistic look, he said, she evokes the importance of family, and she will appeal to women, especially Midwestern moms. Most important, he added, she looks nothing like a Washington politician and she has "balanced more budgets in two years than [Sen. Joseph] Biden has done in 30" years.

Davis has a bevy of other clients this fall, including at least two troubled Republicans, Sens. John Sununu of New Hampshire and Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina. He started in the commercial advertising business in 1972 at age 19; he added political clients in 1994. He has done advertising for a long list of successful campaigns and now lives in Hollywood and Santa Barbara, Calif.

Davis sketched out his advertising strategy for a breakfast at the Minneapolis Hyatt Hotel recently, revving up the crowd with a selection of his past spots and an anti-Obama ad that was pulled before it could be run. The ad portrayed an Obama supporter in Texas being asked to cite an Obama accomplishment; he remains open-mouthed and silent for several seconds -- as if to suggest that he could think of nothing Obama had ever done.

Ultimately, the ad was discarded because it also showed a similarly nonplussed Democratic legislator who has since died. "There's plenty more in the can, soon to come," Davis promised.

He showed off his handiwork from other campaigns, including an ad showing an unflattering image of Sununu's rival, Democrat Jeanne Shaheen. The spot is part of a series, Davis said, in which each successive ad presents Shaheen, a former New Hampshire governor, in an increasingly unfavorable light.

The highlight of Davis' show, however, was an infamous video that portrayed former Gov. Roy Barnes of Georgia as an enormous rat marching through the state. The ad was made for Republican Sonny Perdue, who successfully challenged Barnes in 2002. Perdue spent $40,000 on the man-sized, air-conditioned rat costume. The video worked, Davis said, because it reinforced an impression among some Georgians that Barnes had overstepped his authority on a number of occasions.

For more on political advertising, visit NationalJournal.com's Ad Spotlight blog.

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