“Controversy seems to follow me wherever I seek it.”

                                                        – Stephen Colbert

Stephen Colbert announced on The Colbert Report, on August 11, WOI, the local ABC affiliate in Des Moines, IA, had decided not to run the Colbert Super PAC ads. In an email sent to Colbert, an hour before the first ad was scheduled to air, the station declined because the ads were “confusing to voters.”

In true Colbert fashion, he proceeded to go on a rant against the “Midwestern Media Elite.”

“Confusing to Iowa voters?” Colbert retorted. “Really? We’re not talking about the dips&%ts over in Nebraska. This is Iowa. Unlike WOI, I believe that Iowa voters can understand even a complex message like: Go to the Ames Straw Poll – Write-in Perry – Spell it with an ‘A’.”

While it declined to run the ad, WOI did mention, during their news broadcast, Colbert Super PAC had bought ad time in Des Moines – even showing a clip of the first ad.

WHO and KCCI, the CBS and NBC affiliates in Des Moines, took the opportunity on Friday to spotlight the move on their websites. Both made it a feature story, and it was listed as the second most read story on KCCI’s website.

WOI responded Friday afternoon by posting a statement from Ray Cole, President and COO, and having it as the lead story on their website.

Just a day after releasing its first ad in Iowa, Colbert Super PAC has released its second ad supporting Rick Parry – That’s Parry with an A.

It feels like only yesterday Colbert Super PAC was launching our first in a then-one-part-series of commercials leading up to the Ames Iowa Straw Poll. But here we are, one tomorrow later, and Colbert Super PAC has just released its second in a thus-far-two-part series of commercials in support of Rick Parry.

 

It looks like there may be more ads on the way as well:

You don’t see this kind of advertising every day, although there may or may not be another one tomorrow

Stephen Colbert and his Colbert Super PAC have released their first video ad. The minute long spot is airing tonight in Des Moines, IA. Colbert said Monday night on The Colbert Report the ad would run “during all the local news broadcasts.” [Update: The local ABC affiliate in Des Moines decided not to run the ads. More details here.]

From the humor-filled email sent to members of the Super Pac:

 I have exciting news to share from Colbert Super PAC. We have set our sights on Iowa – right after setting our sights on finding out where Iowa is. It’s further north than you think! In advance of the Ames Straw Poll, outside money has been pouring in trying to convince Iowans to write in Texas Governor Rick Parry. It’s a blatant display of unbridled opportunism that we want in on.

With that in mind, Colbert Super PAC has created our first-ever television ad. It shows what we can achieve if we work together with fortitude, vision, and the latest version of iMovie.  The message is simple, yet deceptively simple: Write in Rick Parry’s name with an A. For America. For IowA. For PresidAnt.

It looks like there will be plenty more from the Colbert Super PAC in the future as well:

This ad is just the beginning for Colbert Super PAC. We’ll be running a whole series of ad in the day leading up to the Ames Straw Poll. And maybe later, we’ll do other things.

Mashable has video from the POV of a firework.

In honor of Glenn Beck’s departure from Fox News, PolitiFact rounds up their analysis of different statements he made.

Google is making another attempt at social networking with Google+. In response, Facebook promised something “awesome” for next week. TechCrunch says the awesomeness will come in the form of video chat powered by Skype.

…and finally The New York Times has some hard-hitting reporting with a story on how to find out which dog did his business in your yard.

In the mean time, here is some of what I worked on over the summer:

MTSU aerospace program lands multi-million dollar contract

Immigration debate finds consensus across party lines

Campers expand horizon at Camp ENRGY

Tennessee’s primary elections are today, and in the state’s 6th Congressional District, it has been a heated race - especially on the Republican side.

And after the results are in, voters in Tennessee may have the answer to the question: If you put enough money into your own campaign, can you win?

On the Republican side, there have been three serious contenders: Diane Black, Jim Tracy and Lou Ann Zelenik. As you can see on the graph below, these three candidates have been far ahead of the competition when it comes to funding for their campaigns.

There is a big discrepency between the three though. Black and Zelenik each put more than $400,000 of their own money. On the other hand, Tracy has relied on individual donations and has not used personal financing.

As you can see, Tracy has led the way with $715,898 in individual donations. Black has managed to secure $396,689 – which is just under what she put in herself.

It is quite the contrast in styles between those on the Republican side. The final graph shows what percentage of the candidates total funding was self-financed. Conservative Democrat George Erdel tops this chart because $4,079 of his $4,715 raised came from his own pocket. Zelenik takes the biggest self-funding prize on the Republican side thus far after funding 70.51% of her campaign herself.

I hope to have more from the winners of the primary elections today, and just how the money is flowing in and out of their campaigns in the weeks leading up to the general election in November.

[The data used in this post is from disclosure reports turned in to the Federal Election Commission]

If, when ordering from Amazon.com, you have ended up making a small purchase to get you over the $25 mark, there might be a way to save a few dollars on things you don’t need thanks to Amazon Student.

If you are a college student (with an active .edu e-mail) and have an Amazon account, all you have to do is sign up using your .edu address. A quick verification e-mail will be sent, and just like that you have a free year of Amazon Prime, normally priced at $79 a year.

With Prime, Students now get free shipping on many purchases with no minimum purchase requirement. Also, instead of the package taking longer to arrive than if you paid for shipping, students will get free two-day shipping. That should be satisfying for most, but if you really need something the next day, you can opt for the $3.99 next-day option per item.

Of course not everything applies, but a good rule of thumb would be the items that also qualify for the free shipping with $25 purchase.

There is no mention I could find of a deadline for the program. Amazon has a pretty good customer service reputation, so I would imagine it will be around a while. But you never know.

When I saw this picture, I could only think of one word:

Brilliant

[Image from Lifehacking.nl via Boing Boing]