Ever since the Massachusetts special election between Scott Brown and Martha Coakley concluded, handing the media the beginning chapter of the 2010 campaign narrative, we've been waiting for the off-year election season to begin in earnest.
Over the past few days, we seem to have reached another important tipping point: the emergence of crazy campaign ads. It looks like we can officially get this wack-a-doo 2010 Election Season Party started.
Folks are already partying down, flush with the prospects of electing Illinois State Senator Rickey "Hollywood" Hendon to the post of the state's lieutenant governor. But that's nothing compared to the vicious attack ad that Dr. Dwight McKenna is running against nine-term incumbent, Orleans Parish Coroner Dr. Frank Minyard. That's right: in some places in America, WOULD-BE CORONERS ARE RUNNING ATTACK ADS.
McKenna's is a doozy. In it, McKenna depicts Minyard as Dr. Frankenstein, replete with an Igor lab assistant and production values reminiscent of Roger Corman (if not Ed Wood).
Okay! Just what is going on there? I'll let ProPublica's A.C. Thompson explain:
The spot portraying Minyard as a Frankensteinian crazy was paid for by Dwight McKenna, M.D., a convicted tax evader who's running against Minyard. It's airing on local TV.
The video highlights a mini-scandal from the 1990s, when Minyard was sued for allegedly removing bone pieces and corneas from the deceased and passing them onto transplant centers without permission. "It's contemptible," McKenna said in an interview.
Of course, some people are going to find the ad contemptible, but McKenna defends it. "The ad is, we believe, factual," he said. "It's fair play. It's done in a humorous way."
Obviously, this ad is going to be hard to top. But what's more important is that this ad is the Punxsutawney Phil of the 2010 election season, heralding nine more months of political nuclear winter.
[Obviously, if you catch a marvelous campaign ad in your area, why not forward it along?]
RELATED:
Craziest Campaign Ad Ever [ProPublica]
PREVIOUSLY, on the HUFFINGTON POST:
Rickey Hendon Campaign Commercial: Illinois Senator's Hilarious Radio Ad (VIDEO)
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