Political Ads: Should Obama Go Negative?

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Negative campaign ads and ads that play on the fears of voters by distorting their opponent’s record have a long history. From LBJ’s now famous Daisy Girl ad in 1964 suggesting that a Goldwater victory might mean nuclear war to John McCain’s recent assault on Barack Obama’s energy policy and his supposed unwillingness to visit wounded troops in Germany, going negative seems to work. Obama, however, has said he will not go negative, preferring to highlight his own positive message of change. His Super Bowl ad is a good example. The question for some is whether Obama should go negative. For others it is whether the Dems even know how to go negative.

Today on GRITtv we look at recent ads from both the McCain and Obama campaigns with Faye Wattleton of the Center for the Advancement of Women, Steve Cobble, a Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, and Malia Lazu, Executive Director of the Gathering for Justice. We stream live at Noon! Be part of the conversation.