The Ads That Weren't

Submitted by politicalWinters on Wed, 11/26/2008 - 8:34am.

Time magazine has an interesting interview with the guy - Fred Davis III - behind John McCain's advertising campaign.

The story plays off the angle of the ads that didn't run for whatever reason - fear of the race card, not touching the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and other subjects.

The article highlights some of the ads that could have been and is worth a look.

Quote: One of his biggest struggles, Davis says, was to come up with negative spots against a historic, groundbreaking candidate without stepping on taboos. "One of the big hands that I felt was tied behind my back was [that] so many things — like [Obama's record on] crime — you would logically do were perceived as 'Oh, we can't do that. That was playing the race card,' " he says, adding that the campaign created a whole series of crime attacks against Obama that were never aired. "Reverend Wright? 'Oh, can't do that; they'll say we are playing the race card.' [William] Ayers? For the longest time, 'Oh, can't do that. We're playing the race card.' "

Yahoo! Politics

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