So, worst campaign ads you saw this year?

[KabeRinnaul]

I'd like to call out a specific one, but since I live in West Virginia, virtually every ad I saw for this entire campaign season amounted to:

"I'm pro-gun. I'm pro-life. I'm pro-coal. My opponent supports Obama."

...including one that was literally those exact points, though with slightly different phrasing on a few ("I will protect your second-amendment rights!" rather than "I'm pro-gun", for example).

But yes, around here, "He supports our president" is a vile condemnation of your opponent.

Didn't bother voting because one, I worked pretty much the entire day; and two, as far as I could tell, every candidate agreed on those points. And since I'm pro-choice, think we have more than enough guns already, and understand that coal is a dying industry that has a long history of exploiting the state and its workers... I might as well have given a write-in vote to Princess Celestia for all the good it would do.

[TheHuckster]

A candidate said something along the lines of "When [big state scandal] happened, my opponent did nothing about it."

Of course said opponent was holding an office in a completely different municipality under a different jurisdiction. Meanwhile the candidate who supported the ad was holding the office partly responsible for the scandal and she at least stood by the series of events that lead to the scandal without much opposition.

I live in a city that had a bitter mayoral fight, and it really shouldn't have been as close as it was. Why? Because independent mayor who was running had held the same exact office twice and each time ended his term early in handcuffs serving time for some pretty bad stuff, including extortion and assault. He's the kind of guy who can sell refrigerators in Nunavut, so he had a huge cult following that got him somewhat close to winning the election. The ads were quite hilarious, with him claiming that the city had "lost its way" after he was forced out last time and he's going to fix it.

Oh, and at least three of his ads hypocritically claimed that his opponent was corrupt.

His opponents didn't even bother running smear ads against him, though, since it was pretty much common knowledge, and people voting for him did so with that knowledge in hand already anyways.

[victory sabre]

Well, I didn't see any too obnoxious commercials, because I'm cheap and don't have cable (I can't get over the air here unless I have a huge antenna).

The most obnoxious ad I heard and it's a tough choice to decide, because 2 of them are close in obnoxiousness.

The first was when I was driving through Iowa and the ad was bashing one candidate for the money they received from evil billionares. Well, the ad failed to mention that the other candidate also received money from evil billionares.

The second was an add with a whiney voice telling me how bad one candidate was. How much of a bully he is, and on and on.

None of the ads that came from the "bully" candidate, that I heard, attacked his opponent at all. They only focused on his ideas and accomplishments.

So glad it's over, and glad that the People's Republic of Minnesota isn't a battleground state in the Presidential election. Though, Wisconsin is, and the ads will flood the Twin Cities media market. Again, glad I don't have cable.

[Bloodsoul]

All of them? From what I could I tell, all of the candidates were assholes… I started thinking we'd be better off going back to "survival of the fittest."

[Rageaholic]

So many to choose from. The Terri Lynn Land ones (Michigan Senate Candidate) were just awful. This one was exceptionally bad. Her message is "I'm a woman so I'm not going to pass laws that hurt women". As if female misogynists don't exist.

Another one was an attack ad on Kristy Pagan. They were attacking her because she wanted to *gasp* provide free water for impoverished areas of Detroit. I can't find this one on youtube though.

[HYHYBT]

Our new senator ran ads claiming his opponent funded terrorists and, if elected, would let ISIS invade the United States.

[MadMike]

As those of us in PA know, we made history last night by voting out an incumbent governor for the first time since we started letting governors serve two terms. Tom Corbett pissed off a lot of people during his first term, and the writing was definitely on the wall. His attack ads got more and more vicious and juvenile as the election got closer. One of the ones that had me shaking my head was one that aired around Halloween. It featured a bunch of horror movie characters saying how "scary" Tom Wolf's (his opponent's) tax plans were. I didn't know whether to laugh or vomit when I saw that one.

[Teysa]

I missed all the ads for, Texas, my home state. Oh darn. I did, however, get sick of the ads in Alaska over the Summer. I've been in Oklahoma for the last several weeks visiting family so I've been subject to their ads too. Strangely, they all seem to be of the "My opponent sucks, nyah,nyah" variety.

[KabeRinnaul]

Pretty sure I never saw a positive one, either.

"He supports gun control..."
"He cost coal miners jobs..."
"He wants to cut social security..."
"He's a big city lawyer/banker/politician..."
"He supports Obama..."

Just a lot of those.

Oh, and for the record, every time they say "he supports Obama", you have to remember it's being said in roughly the same tone as "he molests children." Seriously. Our local ads act like Obama is the Antichrist.

[Kara_CS]

"I'm pro-gun. I'm pro-life. I'm pro-coal. My opponent supports Obama."

Since I key mail from all over the US, I can verify that was pretty much the entire Republican ad campaign, nationwide. "I support the Second Amendment and a vote for me is a vote against [insert opponent name here] and Obama's anti-gun agenda!!!!!oneone"

And the worst part is that it fucking worked >.<

[Kheldarson]

Since I key mail from all over the US, I can verify that was pretty much the entire Republican ad campaign, nationwide. "I support the Second Amendment and a vote for me is a vote against [insert opponent name here] and Obama's anti-gun agenda!!!!!oneone"

And the worst part is that it fucking worked >.<

In our area, those points (minus the supporting Obama statement) was both parties' talking points.

I am so sick of coal and guns being the political religion around here.

[HYHYBT]

Question withdrawn.

[protege]

Oh, and for the record, every time they say "he supports Obama", you have to remember it's being said in roughly the same tone as "he molests children." Seriously. Our local ads act like Obama is the Antichrist.

The same thing was done when Bush Jr. was president. Nearly all of the ads attacked candidates for having any ties to the president, or anything he stood for. For example, they went after Rick Santorum for those reasons. Granted, he's a douche anyway, but still. It worked then, and it was used again by the other party.

I know of one PA-based politician (Arlen Specter), that switched sides come election time. He did it not to "serve the people," but to keep his fucking job. Nothing changed, he was still the same asshole, supporting the same shit. But, because he had a "D" next to his name instead of an "R," he thought Pennsylvania voters were stupid and he could get away with it. He got bumped off in the primary.

As for coal, we have to remember that many areas of Appalachia are heavily dependent on it. To go on about clean energy sources, is seen as attacking the miners' livelihoods. Never mind that coal is used for other things--steel, various chemicals--and much of it is exported. Even though its uses are declining (natural gas fracking is seeing to that), you're still talking about taking away someone's means of support for their families. That's why it was heavily promoted, because the Democratic party has always claimed to be "for the working man" and usually supports organized labor.

[Kheldarson]

As for coal, we have to remember that many areas of Appalachia are heavily dependent on it. To go on about clean energy sources, is seen as attacking the miners' livelihoods. Never mind that coal is used for other things--steel, various chemicals--and much of it is exported. Even though its uses are declining (natural gas fracking is seeing to that), you're still talking about taking away someone's means of support for their families. That's why it was heavily promoted, because the Democratic party has always claimed to be "for the working man" and usually supports organized labor.

Yeah, we know. We live in the middle of it. The issue is that one, both sides are supporters so it got tedious, and two, the coal miners are losing their jobs anyway and they're not coming back. But no one is willing to discuss it at all.

[mikoyan29]

I would have to say one of the ads here that was attacking Gary Peters for being in the pockets of "special interests". So did faeries and magic dust pay for that particular ad? Because it certainly wouldn't be "special interests".