What are the year’s best political ads for third party and independent candidates (so far)? Over the last week, I’ve viewed dozens of political ads and short videos produced by and for Libertarian, Green, Constitution Party and Independent candidates for office from Maine to California and Florida to Washington . . . From this unscientific sampling of videos, it is safe to conclude that there are some very savvy and extremely creative ads out there, and probably many many more which I still have not seen. . . .
Because of the prejudices and biases against third party and independent candidates, not to mention the ideological and structural constraints imposed on the American people by the two-party state, third party and independent candidates must be extremely creative in their ads to raise their political profiles and garner notice from the public and attention from the media. It is those ads which diverge from the generic model that I have highlighted below.
See the original post for all eleven videos plus four special mentions. Poli-Tea’s results include:
Best Ad: Glenn Wilson vs. The Dons. Glenn Wilson is an Independent candidate for Congress in Michigan’s 1st district. In this ad, Republican and Democratic mafia bosses hold a meeting to determine what to do about Independent candidate Glenn Wilson, whose candidacy threatens their political monopoly. They decide not to “whack the voters” just yet, but instead call for a media blackout of coverage on the Independent candidate.
Best Series of Ads:Â Travis Irvine
Best Unofficial Ad for a Candidate:Â p4prez for Rich Whitney
Darkest Message in a Generic Ad: Gail Giaramita