Bernie Sanders put his latest TV ad online Thursday, one set to air Friday in both Iowa and New Hampshire. It's a striking ad: 60 seconds of Simon & Garfunkel's America plays over idyllic shots of snowy farmland, cheering Sanders rallies and everyday folks in everyday life.... The New York Times called it "powerful," saying the ad will stand out among the crush of negative ads in both parties. The Times also noted that the ad prominently features minorities, "presumably to address Mr. Sanders’s difficulties in attracting support among blacks and Hispanics." That last part is true: According to a national poll released Tuesday by Monmouth University, Sanders trails Clinton among black and Latino voters by 50 points. Yet the Atlantic's David A. Graham came away with a different take, saying "it's hard not to notice how white the ad is—I counted perhaps half a dozen people of color in the spot."
Almost as many brown cows as brown faces—that was an unforced error—and the people of color are all faces in the crowds. Expect a new version of this ad to be cut and posted by nightfall.
Also...
When was the last time a Democratic candidate for president made a campaign ad that "centered," as the social justice kids say, urban landscapes and archetypes in the same sentimental, fetishistic way this ad centers rural landscapes and archetypes?
I know, I know: Don't want to scare the Iowans. But still.
