The most controversial and powerful political ad of all time "Daisy Girl," can now be found on YouTube. From the 1964 presidential campaign, it shows a little girl counting the petals of daisies, then a voice counts down. "Ten. Nine. Eight." We close in on the girl's face, an atomic bomb explodes and we see a reflection of the mushroom cloud in the child's eyes. Then Lyndon Johnson's voice issues his warning about Barry Goldwater without using his opponent's name.
They don't make them like "Daisy" anymore. Instead, today's political ads are clumsy weapons of mass distraction and annoyance. Well, there is a political ad that can change all that. It was posted on Youtube yesterday and has shot to the top of the ratings, already racking up higher Youtube ratings than "Daisy."
The ad, "Stop the Pounding," was created by the man who invented Jesse Ventura's campaign, reelected Paul Wellstone and won Lamont his primary, Bill Hillsman. It is running on California television for a proposition to end big money propositions and cash register politics. If Prop 89 wins, it's sure to catch fire across the country and change politics as we know it back on the Potomac. Watch Hillsman's ad, which is a remarkable piece of political jujitsu on the practices of political advertising, and has the possiblity to remake them.
For the doubters, seasoned Los Angeles Times reporter and blogger Bob Salladay writes that the ad "is one of the slickest and most engaging political ads in California right now."