In a humorous sketch on funnyordie.com, Will Ferrell and other celebrities do a mock-serious critique on health insurance companies.

A video entitled “Overpaid Celebrities” came out soon after as a response to the Funny or Die spoof.

The group Catholic Vote Action put out another video mocking the Ferrell skit.

We’ll see if Sanford finishes his last 500.

Data still shows that the internet is not king…yet. A Rasmussen survey from July still indicates that more Americans put their trust in network television than the internet for the news. The poll of 1000 adults had 46% agreeing that network television is a “more reliable source of credible news information” followed by 35% siding with the internet and 19% that are unsure.

Also, according to Rasmussen, women are more likely than men to trust the network news. Men are evenly split. At the same time, Democrats favor network news two-to-one compared to Republicans and politically unaffiliated adults who see the two mediums as equal in terms of reliability.

What does all this mean? Two things. First, the data represents an overall decline in the ratings of the major news networks: ABC, NBC, and CBS. Second, it lends credibility to the idea that the declining ratings of the networks have been because of a perceived bias in reporting.

More than half of the Americans surveyed go online almost every day and see online reporting comparable to their local newspaper, contributing to the decline in network viewership.

Furthermore, last August, only 10% of voters said they watched any of the three major anchors every day for information about the election. Where were they getting their news? One place was talk radio, which was grabbing viewers at a rate of two-to-one compared to network news.

All indicators point to the decline in the traditional format of the network news. Many believe the internet and other outlets will eventually replace the TV networks as the standard bearer of news in America. The issue is not if, but when and to what degree, the internet and others will rule the news business.

Who will be the next Walter Cronkite?

You may want to look on YouTube before you turn on your TV.

That’s Chancellor Angela Merkel in a somewhat revealing, low-cut dress. Across her cleavage, the slogan “We have more to offer.”
 
The picture is at the center of a new campaign strategy for Vera Lengsfeld. She is a fellow member of Merkel’s conservative CDU party running in a left-leaning district of Berlin. Being a conservative in a liberal district, and running against a popular Green Party incumbent, Lengsfeld needed a way to grab voters’ attention. And she has certainly found it. Lengsfeld hung 750 posters with the picture in her district, creating quite the media buzz. Local news stations are covering the story, posters are going missing as people take them for souvenirs, and 17,000 people have visited her campaign blog since they were posted.
 
This certainly plays into the old adage that “sex sells.” But is using sex in political ads appropriate? Advertising guru David Olgilvy’s one rule on using sex in an ad campaign is relevance. Does Merkel’s cleavage have anything to do with the candidate the poster is trying to promote? No. Will it really persuade voters that Lengsfeld is better qualified to represent them in Parliament? Probably not. Lengsfeld is a long-shot candidate needing exposure and desperate candidates turn to desperate measures to get the attention they want.
 
But with the way people view politicians in America today, candidates here need to tread lightly when crafting campaign strategies. Shock-value ads may get attention but do they pay off with votes in the end? Not if you want to be taken seriously and have your platform resonate with voters.
 
While showing Hillary Clinton in a revealing top is the last thing any American wants to see, the thing to take from this ad campaign is how to (appropriately) use new and provocative images to grab people’s attention. The same stock photos and outdated slogans need to be retired. Its time for a more creative approach if you want people to look, listen, and ultimately vote for you on election day.

August is here. Members of Congress use this much awaited recess to go home, listen to their constituents, and reconnect before the fall session. The recent controversy surrounding the cap and trade bill and the looming health care reform legislation has made this time interesting for Members of Congress as they go home and check the temperature of their constituents.

Recent media accounts have shown that the response back home is downright angry. Traditionally, during this time, Members of Congress set up town hall style events where they speak about current legislation and field questions from the audience. Americans have been showing up in droves to these ‘town hall’ events holding signs, yelling, and causing discomfort for their respective members.

Much of the raw footage of these events has made it to the internet. The most notable clip was from a town hall hosted by Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius over the weekend. Senator Specter was hastled and booed over a response he made about the speed at which legislation is passed. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was noticeably irritated by the audience’s reaction. Close to 825,000 people have viewed the two and a half minute video since it was posted last Sunday.

Over 500,000 watched Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) as he was hounded outside a grocery store by irate constituents yelling “just say no” (referencing healthcare) over the weekend.

366,000 viewed a town hall with Representative Tim Bishop (D-NY) as he was taken to task over a variety of issues including his support for cap and trade and the current healthcare reform.

These are just a few examples of what has happened as Members go home and meet with the people they represent. The declining support in the polls for a public option for healthcare rightly suggests that these episodes are an illustration of the feelings of many across the country.

While those taking the brunt of this anger consider these individuals plants and not representative of what Americans are truly feeling, it is clear Members of Congress are walking on thin ice when it comes to healthcare. Whether the protests are orchestrated or organic, they still represent growing concern with the legislative agenda put forth by the Obama Administration.

From a political communication perspective, there are deeper implications that continue to arise from this trend.  Video technology’s effectiveness was first highlighted in the 2006 cycle during the VA Senate race, when George Allen was caught on film calling a videographer a racially incentive slur.  Now, with Flip Camera and video technology on mobile phones, citizens have the power and ability to capture politicians and events en masse. With the widespread popularity of YouTube, people are able to watch these raw videos online, almost immediately. With more social media platforms being utilized for distribution, these videos have a much greater chance of going viral, reaching thousands, even millions of people.

This drastically increases the number of participants in the political dialogue. In the past, one was required to physically attend these events to get the true feeling because news accounts were heavily edited. Now, citizen journalists are everywhere capturing real-time events and posting them, largely unedited, on the internet for millions to view.

The political brush fire over healthcare is well under way.  New videos of public outrage at Congressional town hall meetings have fueled this fire tremendously.

Stay tuned for more from your fellow citizen journalist.

I pointed out earlier this year that a perfect storm was brewing.

President Obama and the Democratic leaders in Congress hastily drew a bold line in the sand on the role of government and the direction they wanted to take this country.  They shoved a poorly conceived stimulus bill, riddled with pet projects, down the throats of congress.  They moved to raise taxes and continue to promote a much larger hand of government into corporate offices and living rooms of Americans.  With the multi-trillion dollar healthcare bill falling apart, it’s becoming clear that perhaps this is not the kind of change the American people anticipated.

We are approaching an environment that is ripening for Republican candidates across the country. Candidates running on a strong economic and jobs message, with a clear vision outlining a more accountable government, over a larger more intrusive one, are seeing momentum gather for their campaigns.

I wanted to share with you some key analysis from three different reputable Republican polling companies, who have publicly released findings, which coincide with this assessment.

See below:

Latest bi-partisan George Washington University national Battleground Poll, conducted by The Tarrance Group in conjunction with Lake Research (a Democratic polling firm).

Highlights:

• President Obama’s Job Approval is down to just 53%, while 42% disapprove.  The intensity on each side is nearly even, with 40% strongly approving, and 37% strongly disapproving. He is upside down among Independent voters, 42% approve to 50% disapprove.
• For the first time in several cycles, Republican voters are more energized about voting than Democratic voters.  Fully 75% of Republicans say they are extremely likely to vote in the 2010 elections, compared to just 66% of Democrats.
• The generic Congressional ballot is back to a only a 3-point Democratic advantage.  By comparison, the generic showed an 8-point DEM lead in the 2006 cycle.
• Just 34% approve of the job Congress is doing, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi has a 32% favorable image, with fully 51% unfavorable.
• Republicans have regained their advantage on the issues of holding down taxes and controlling wasteful spending. However, on the issue who would better handle turning the economy around, Democrats in Congress still lead by 14-points.
• Only 33% say that the economic stimulus passed by Congress is working, while 61% disagree. But 58% say they agree that it should be given a year to really make a difference.

For more information: see Ed Goeas’ presentation at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7A5jni0AgoA

Latest NPR poll done by Public Opinion Strategies and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research (a Democratic polling firm).

Highlights:

• President Obama’s approval rating has dropped below 55%, and as many voters strongly disapprove as strongly approve.
• The GOP has a one point advantage on the generic ballot – highlighting that voters want balance in Washington.
• A plurality of voters believe that Obama’s economic policies have run up a record federal deficit while failing to end the recession instead of his policies having averted an even worse crisis.
• Voters say that the Democratic Party is not doing a good job addressing the country’s priorities this year. However, in a sobering finding, they think the GOP is doing an even worse job of addressing the country’s priorities.
• A plurality of voters are strongly opposed to the Obama plan to change health care. Voters who had been undecided on this issue have moved to the negative perspective.

For more information: http://www.pos.org/latestnumbers/nprjuly2009.pdf

Another interesting Poll by Wilson Research Strategies for the Kaiser Family Foundation on healthcare, analyzed the language for Republicans to remember when discussing the Democratic plan.

Highlights:

• Discuss the costs in specific, personal detail. The quickest way to motivate opposition to nationalized health care is to remind most Americans that their taxes and their premiums will go up.
• Focus on the universality of the proposal. If the benefits are not going to benefit them personally, Americans are less willing to pay for them.
• Don’t let Democrats pretend that only “the rich” will pay for health care. The strongest argument proponents of health care overhaul have is that “someone else” will foot the bill for this.  Democrats are obviously aware of this and should not be allowed to get away with it.
• Most importantly, a personal price tag must be added to every proposal. Specific numbers build opposition to this proposal.  Americans can’t understand and don’t care about billions and trillions, but they do care about $500 in new taxes for themselves or $100 in additional healthcare premiums.

For more information: see WRS’ full assessment on the issue at http://www.w-r-s.com/nationalassessment/.

Brian Donahue is a strategic media consultant with Jamestown Associates.  He also blogs at http://30or60.com.

Current Assemblyman, Chuck Devore, representing California’s 70^th district has an uphill battle in front of him. He is running for the U.S. Senate in California against political heavy-weight Barbara Boxer. His litany of life-long accomplishments pitted against Barbara Boxer’s political machine will make this a must follow race in 2010.

However, his New Media Director for the campaign, JUSTIN HART, is shaking things up a bit. He has introduced an innovative fundraising strategy for the campaign that looks promising.

It’s called ChuckBucks.

The site combines ease, transparency, and flair to let campaign donors know exactly where their money is going. The genius is in allowing potential donors ‘pick’ where the money is going by selecting a campaign expense to pay for. The engagement factor is key. When people are invested directly in something, they feel more a part of it. The more excited supporters the better. Finally, the air of transparency builds trust with the donor knowing that their hard earned money is going directly to a specific purpose and not lost in the war chest.

Next, the campaign’s new media savy includes a Twitter feed that lets people know who and how much has been donated. It then links to the individual’s Twitter home page. The focus is on small donations to build grassroots support-much like Barack Obama’s plan in 2008.

In an interview with Wired Magazine’s Epicenter blog, Hart explains,

You’ve got to rise above the noise. You can’t just do it and not have an angle, or a specific thing that makes people want to donate. If you’re a charity, for example, is there a unique angle you can pursue as far as new contributors — new contributors from a specific city, or something around a special event that you’re doing? If you just lay it out there, no one’s really going to pay attention… For us, of course, being conservatives and
Republicans, and having lost the November election, with technology being one of the tools used by the victorious side — not only to vanquish us, but to vanquish Hilary Clinton earlier… conservatives are taking that message to heart. For them, I was kind of this symbolic, poster child of our way back out of the wilderness.

With ChuckBucks’ launch today, we will soon find out whether Hart’s savy will translate into dollars. Yet, the innovative approach and creativity is second to none and will likely be mimicked by campaigns in the future whether or not Chuck Devore is able to take down the Barbara Boxer behemoth.

This ad is sending a strategic message with word choice. Bold words like “bailouts,” takeovers,” and “spending spree” emphasize what this administration has already delivered. Describing the proposed health care reform as a “risky experiment” purposefully concerns viewers. Experiment implies a trial of something new to determine whether or not it works. Experimenting with a policy that will affect 267 million Americans and cost trillions of dollars is dangerous. No one wants their health care to be put in jeopardy by a reckless reform that took just months to put together but will be affecting us for decades to come.

The ad is being broadcast in Arkansas, Nevada, and North Dakota; the video is also available at BarackObamaExperiment.com

The RNC runs the website designed to raise opposition to Obama’s health care reform. The site allows visitors to share the link through social networking sites, it provides phone numbers to radio political talk shows, it provides sample letters to send to newspapers, and it encourages people to contact their elected officials, even providing talking points on the opposition.

It’s beginning to be an all-out campaign against Obama’s government-run health insurance plan. And separating this campaign from the RNC’s website makes the issues less about partisan politics and more about the issue at hand. As the health care debate heats up, we can anticipate seeing a lot more ads like this.