Fallon ad and voter turn-out

There are a couple of television ad campaigns I really like.  First, I love the series of commercials featuring people who have been the victim of identity theft. One features a bulky fellow sitting there mouthing the words of a Valley Girl who stole his credit card.  Second, I like the series of commercials for that cell phone company where the actors on camera start talking, then there’s silence as he or she contues to talk, gesture and then scream about how frustrating it is when you are talking on your cell phone and it cuts out.

The Fallon campaign has mimicked that cell phone commercial in Fallon’s latest commercial where you see Ed Fallon talking but there’s no sound because — are you sitting down — corporate interests have stolen the voice of ordinary Iowans (or some rhetoric to that effect).  Another interesting tidbit about this commercial is when and where it was placed. It aired during the six o’clock newscast on WHO-TV, which means Fallon is spending more per ad than he has been on the cable TV placement that has been his preferred means of distribution for commercials. 

As the last days of this campaign wind down, the campaigns are all focused on turn-out.  It’s unclear what that turn-out will be.  I’ve been struck by how extraordinarily unmotivated most Democratic voters I come across seem to be.  I drove around rural Warren County on Mother’s Day and saw very few yard signs in a county with a pretty strong Democratic voting base.  There were a few Fallon signs, one or two Blouin signs and I didn’t spy a Culver sign at all.  I’m not suggesting yard signs are an accurate measurement of a candidates’ strength, but I do think the lack of yard signs shows the party faithful aren’t terribly motivated for the primary.