Saw a story, I think on CNN, over the weekend that basically concluded that Obama and McCain have both run roughly the same number of negative ads. Not sure if that was in terms of raw numbers or percentages vs. positive ads, but there ya go. That doesn't necessarily surprise me, especially if it's comparing raw numbers, i.e., minutes of airtime.

Here's the thing, though -- McCain's campaign [I]feels [/I]much more negative -- in fact, I don't think it's close. It's one thing to say, "So and so voted against this, or for that" but I think the McCain ads as a group have been much more personal. It almost seems like there ought to be three categories of ads this year:

1. Positive ads
2. Attack ads, issue-based
3. Attack ads, character-based.

Have a feeling we'd see a yawning gap on number 3 if they were broken down that way.

Re: Does Content Matter?

I'm from new york, so we haven't exactly been flooded with obama ads, but i'd be willing to wager that obama's ads don't have that same sinister feeling as mccain's. once this election is over, i think it's gonna be a respected that obama won by taking the high road...

Re: Does Content Matter?

looks like the polls are bearing this out, that McCain is getting some backlash from the negative tone of his campaign, while Obama, not so much...

[url]http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/20/mccains-attacks-are-unfair-cnn-poll-says/#more-25641[/url]