John Edwards, a year ago, was riding high. The New Yorker ran a cover story on him, labeling him the “next Bill Clinton” (in a good way). He was a fresh face, from the south, with an exceptional ability to connect with voters.<\/p>\n
That was then. Now he’s struggling in the polls and fading fast.<\/p>\n
There’s no way to know for sure, but if Howard Dean wasn’t in this race, I believe Edwards would be a top-tier candidate. Instead, Dean has ridden a wave of excitement and successful fundraising to the top, while Edwards has slowly but surely drifted back to the middle of the pack.<\/p>\n
This is not to say that Edwards hasn’t been working hard as a candidate. For the better part of 2003, Edwards has been doing what conventional wisdom suggested was the right move — raise a ton of money. And Edwards has done just that, raising more this year than anyone except Kerry.<\/p>\n
But for every dollar Edwards was raising, Dean was picking up a supporter. Edwards was generating a flush bank account, Dean was generating excitement at the grassroots.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately for Edwards, he’s run out of time. If he doesn’t make a move now, he’ll never catch up when all the candidates start campaigning full time in advance of the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary.<\/p>\n
With this in mind, Edwards has made his first ad buys of the season<\/a>, hitting New Hampshire’s and Iowa’s airwaves with three television commercials that he hopes will give his campaign a needed boost.<\/p>\n It would be really difficult to describe these ads in sufficient detail, but if you’re interested, you can watch them online at Edwards’ site. If campaign advertising is as interesting to you as it is to me, you’ll definitely want to take a look<\/a>.<\/p>\n Why? Because these ads are excellent. If you watch the ads, notice how incredibly comfortable Edwards seems. He’s not reading cue cards or going through the motions; he’s connecting in a very Clinton-like way.<\/p>\n
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\nHere we have a textbook example of how to do campaign television advertisements. Edwards hired David Axelrod, a Chicago-based media consultant, one of the best in the business at shaping advertising messages. He signed on the Edwards campaign a few months ago and if these ads are effective in giving the campaign a bump in the polls, Axelrod will definitely deserve a raise.<\/p>\n