Experts Expound

“What’s the best, most effective TV ad you’ve seen so far in the special
election campaigns? Why?”

“The governor’s ad, featuring the governor looking into the camera. Any time
the governor is featured in an ad, opposition to what he is selling soars.
Now that’s effective!”

“The “No on 76” ad is beautiful in its simplicity and in the way it uses the
LAO analysis of the measure. However, the person who discovered Craig Brown
sipping a soda at Schwab’s Drugstore and decided to use him as a spokesman
should have kept looking.”

“Prop. 77’s new ad with the old woman is the best. It sums up how most
Californians feel about politicians in Sacramento. Meanwhile, the worst is
the one that says the unions have gone too far in attacking the Gov. While
it’s true, I don’t think it’s an effective ad.”

“They are all unimaginative. It is hard to make a compelling argument in
30-seconds, but that’s why media consultants are paid so well. This year
they are not earning their money.”

“No single ad stands out. (Don) Sipple’s ads for the initiatives are
terrific, his best yet. McNally-Temple’s ads for the unions have also been
solid and effective, but have reached a point of diminishing return, and the
anti-Arnold harshness is now being tuned out by voters. Wayne Johnson’s ad
for Prop. 77 is the favorite of insiders because of its humor, but it is not
strong enough to get the job done. Just ask Senator Podesto.”

“The best so far are the No on 76 ads that stress the cuts to education,
like Prop 13 a third rail of Calif politics. They overwhelm the spending
limit parts of Prop 76 that should receive more discussion. Can’t imagine
why the Arnold people put the Prop 98 poison pill into their spending cap
initiative. Don’t they realize that for the past 25 years every time an
initiative has even brushed against Proposition 13 it has gone down.”

“Commercial TV has been banned from our home until after November 4 because
a toxic level of meaningless white noise was already coming from the set and
we were afraid that special election ads would make the house uninhabitable.
So, I haven’t seen any of the ads. Sorry.”

“The best ad so far is the no-on-75 spot that has the teacher talking about
why she became a teacher. It doesn’t even mention politics for the first
half of the as, but builds the teacher’s credibility and trust before
applying that trust to her position on the ballot measure. Much better to be
patient and close with the sale, rather than just having a talking head with
no emotional connection with the audience.”

The people from whom we sought opinions: Andrew Acosta, A.G. Block, Debra
Gonzalez, Don Wilcox, Dan Schnur, Evan Goldberg, Karen Hanretty, Jason
Kinney, Kevin Spillane, Sam Delson, Matt Ross, Mike Madrid, Morgan Crinklaw,
Ralph Simoni, Richard Zeiger, Robert Hertzberg, Scott Baugh, Steve Maviglio,
Tony Quinn, Peter Demarco, Dave Sebeck, Adam Probolsky, Barbara O’Connor,
Jack Pitney.