Ad Scan

The first Conservative TV ads are out.

The crime ad might have been much more effective if a minority woman, and not an older white woman had been the one to complain about drug dealers and criminals not getting deported, at least in the big-city markets. Their communities are the ones that suffer most, and it would defuse in advance the hysterical Liberal claims that "getting tough on crime" is code for "beat up anyone who ain't white."

The accountability ad is the most effective of the three: without saying "Liberal" or "corruption" or "sponsorship scandal", Harper discusses the problem and provides a policy solution and at the same time avoids charges that he's got nothing else to run on except whining about Adscam.

The taxes ad blames 12 years of Liberal government by name and rolls out the GST cut from 7% to 6% to 5%. Harper avoids creating the future perception of a broken promise by making it clear that the GST cut will be rolled out in stages.

We need low-key message ads right now to fill the policy void the Liberals can't fill, and nobody believes they can. Let's hope we've got the nastiest negative ads ready to roll when the Grits go for the throat in the New Year.