Something tells me the TAP/Campus Progress crowd isn't exactly what the Romney campaign is aiming for with their ad.

Well, since I dont have a TV, I cant comment on possible similarities with Viagra ads - dont know what those are like. But otherwise I disagree.

Obviously, the two ads are stylistically comparable - beach scene, soothing voice. But substantively, they aren't alike at all. Lieberman's ad is stunningly void of content - it feels like you're literally seeing someone throwing up his hands and giving up on trying to argue any further with critics or competitors.

Romney on the other hand makes a clear argument. Not one I'd agree with - seems a bit scary, and all too moral-panicky - but he does the whole thing: lays out the problem as he sees it, explains what he sees as the cause of it, proceeds to present the solutions he suggests. Seems a bit sad to have to already give props for something so pedestrian, but there you go: in a world of mere slogans, here's an actual argument.

In that sense, I also dont think its a bad ad, or that it will be ineffective. He sounds fake yeah, at least to you or to me, but that's never stopped anyone from selling their product or winning the seat. And the closing image of him with the kid seems genuinely likable. But most of all he makes an argument that will be gladly heard by exactly the constituency that isnt generally repelled by cheesiness anyway: concerned mothers and housewives and worrying small-town conservative folk.

So I think it should be a pretty effective ad. (Then again, what do I know about what works with conservative Republicans, as liberal foreigner..)

I've got (bad) news for you: Not only will Mitt Romney be the Repuplican nominee for President, he WILL BE be the next President of the United States.

Why, you ask...?
It's really quite simple - McCain is toast, Rudy is a verifiable nutjob and it will show.

HRC can't win, her negatives are too high, combined with the fact the the MSM and nutroots will have a jolly time reprising the late 90's ad nauseum if she get the Dem nod.
Barack...? I hate to say it but the sad reality is that a black man cannot win an election for President in the US.

Why do you think the long knives are out so early and so viciously for Edwards...?
They've got to destroy him NOW, before he gets the Dem Nomination.

Before anyone takes the above wrongly, I firmly believe that Hillary Clinton, or Barack Obama, or John Edwards would all make fine Presdients of this country.

So how's he going to "clean up the water"? Government censorship of TV? Of kids' language? More regulation of pornography on the internet? How? (And what's his position on the real, you know, Clean Water Act?)

Romney is supposed to be the "business" candidate. This should play well--not.

I think he may get the nomination, but that in the end much of the business community, starting already with Wall Street and Rupert Murdoch, will decide that Hillary up close isn't really that frightining--she's smart and centrist. She has joined the elite, and isn't about to be TOO populist. Really, she's their best bet for hanging on to what they have--not some guy without a core and a funy religion and mushy message.

Hillary's probably going to take it. Though we could do worse, we could also do quite a bit better. But we won't.

He will be destroyed once the race gets started. When Southern Baptists and the base of the Republican party learn about Mormons he`s finished.

"Romney on the other hand makes a clear argument. Not one I'd agree with - seems a bit scary, and all too moral-panicky -"

Hitting on moral issues-- as opposed to religion per se-- is actually useful for him. The religious voters people believe will be turned off by his Mormonism will focus on moral values not religion. Sort of a move "back" to the "family values" type meme (as opposed to harping on religion per se) that they had in the 1990s. The fixation on morality seems to have picked up steam since then. (Maybe it *is* the internet).

"He will be destroyed once the race gets started. When Southern Baptists and the base of the Republican party learn about Mormons he`s finished."

No, I don't think so. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is "America's Choir." Ronald Reagan said.

What should kill him with them is that he's a private equity robber baron. But, alas, it probably won't.

So, you're saying Romney will lose the Republican primary, then win the general on the Connecticutt for Lieberman ticket?

I'd like to see Mike Gravel stare interminably into the camera, then turn, walk over, and take a piss in the ocean.

But I hardly ever get what I want. That's what's wrong with this whole system.