• by John Gaffney , November 5, 2002

What Time Is It? Damn, it was an amazing autumn New England morning up here yesterday. About 40 degrees, sunny, leaves lit up yellow and red and a light breeze blowing them down. Then, driving the main drag in town, I noticed overflowing school parking lots. “Election Day, you dumbass,” I said to myself. I find I am only aware of current events when they’re spectacular these days. I have become numb to the nuances that will affect my life and my kid’s lives somewhere down the road. This Election Day, it strikes me, has been more media-influenced than any other one that I can remember. We have been living on a fairly steady diet of tragedy and terror. I think the Beltway sniper killed more than innocent people. It extended our national feeling of terror. It took our eye off a midterm election whose main event – the death of Sen. Paul Wellstone - was a tragedy in itself. It took the media’s eye off the issues that will be important next year: tax cuts, economic development, overseas trade, foreign policy and national security. I’m not blaming the news media for this. But I know I need to dig a bit deeper and open my eyes a bit wider.

My Worthy, Dirtbag Of An Opponent: With all that we’ve learned about advertising as a creative force and the ways we can powerfully place ads, why are election ads so terrible? I watched a lot of TV, and read a lot of newspapers over the past month and I can’t tell you a single ad I saw that compelled me to even think positively about a candidate. I’m willing to reconsider if anybody wants to try and change my mind.

Parting Shot: And if anybody’s thinking about emailing me about Reagan’s “Morning In America,” save it. That was not advertising. That was propaganda.