Campaign Ads Revisited: “Hands”

by Kevin Van Dyke, Editor
October 21, 2008

Behind significantly in the polls, the McCain campaign has hinted about possibly bringing Reverend Wright into their attack ad cycle in the next week. Rumor is that these ads will specifically target places like southern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. In this light, let’s look back at racially charged ads from years past. Here’s Jesse Helm’s ad “hands.” This ad was used against Charlotte mayor Harvey Gantt in the 1990 North Carolina Senate race, in which Helms would go on to narrowly defeat Gantt. Political consultant Alex Castellanos wrote and produced this ad. You probably know Castellanos from his current job as a political analyst at CNN.