Observations On Florida TV Ads

If you spend any time in south Georgia, you will soon realize that it is the season where TV ads consist of two items: Car ads and political ads.

I've seen a plethora of ads for the Florida primaries aired on the Tallahassee TV station. A few interesting things I noticed.

*No negatives. Maybe I've missed them but I just haven't seen any. After the slug fest that was the Georgia Gov, Lt Gov and 4th races, this was a welcome relief.

*Democrats are playing anti-Bush. Both Jim Davis and Rod Smith have made mention of Bush not helping Floridians. Davis going for the rather safe ploy of accusing Bush of gutting Social Security. Smith going much riskier by attacking the stem cell veto head on.

*I've seen Charlie Crist ads but no Tom Gallagher. I think the Republican race is really about to be a one man show.

*Not one mention of family values. Lots of populist themes including Republican Crist sticking it to price gougers and insurance companies, but no gay marriage, abortion or even Schiavo. It seems Florida pols really get it. People want to hear about issues that actually affect most people.

It's definitely in overdrive down here. You can't make it through any prime time show without at least two or three ads. We'll see if they are just holding back on the negative, but for now I very impressed with all candidates on both sides.

UPDATE: Ah, I love the speed of the internet. Apparently Gallagher has just rolled out a new attack ad against Crist. Hopefully I will catch it tonight.