• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, February 12, 2024

While the presidential campaign news cycle continued to be dominated by the politicized slam job of Special Counsel Robert Hur's ageist disparagement of President Joe Biden -- as well as the news media's shark-like frenzy of it -- the Super Bowl began shifting the focus to all things Americana, including a retro-stylized spot (above) by a pro-Robert F. Kennedy Jr. PAC that's almost a direct lift of one used to elect his uncle John F. Kennedy president (see below).

The spot wisely taps into some nostalgic appeal, leverages the Kennedy brand name, but avoids much of RFK Jr.'s conspiratorial positioning.

While the Biden campaign failed to adequately counter the Hur Report, which followed on criticism about the Biden team's decision to take a pass on a Super Bowl interview, the campaign began generating mixed news on its announcement that it would bypass traditional media vis a vis a TikTok account.

Not surprisingly, that move was criticized by Republicans that have largely avoided the platform, ostensibly over security concerns, but also because it's just not a very good cultural fit for the GOP -- at least so far.

But the biggest trending story was Trump's anti-NATO/pro-Putin campaign speech, in which he essentially vowed to put U.S. allies up for grabs, asserting he would encourage Russia "to do whatever they hell they want."