Part of my weekend involved watching some New York media-market television. So I got a chance to see some ads for the local NY races. Here’s what I learned: Elliot Sptizer is King. Seriously.
First, I saw Spitzer’s gubernatorial ad (click here and watch “To Do”), which was striking in that it basically moved past the campaign and outlined a strategy for his first 100 days in office.
Second, now that Spitzer’s election seems assured, it’s time to make the race for his coattails. Running to replace him are Republican Jeanine Pirro and Democrat Andrew Cuomo. Pirro’s ad (click here and go to “Videos”) argues that she’s more qualified to replace the Democrat Spitzer. It’s, of course, an attempt to get some cross-party cred in blue New York. But doesn’t have nearly the bipartisan cred that comes with an actual cross-party move, like when Giuliani endorsed Cuomo Sr. in ‘94.
Cuomo, being a Democrat, is able to out-do Pirro on this score. He actually goes so far as to have Sptizer sit down next to him during the entire ad (click here and watch “most qualified.” BTW… why do none of these sites have permalinks for their ads?!).
It’s no surprise Spitzer has such coattails, of course. He’s ridiculously popular. Given that his fame comes from an aggressive series of Wall Street investigations, is it possible that a politician can take on corporations and not come off sounding like David Sirota? I sure hope so.
Now Playing: Episode 366
Obama staffs up, Detroit comes to DC and finally, Iraq and the US come to a security agreement.
Links Mentioned: Iraq SOFA … pros and cons of a bailout.
I LOVE the Pirro ad! What’s hard to convey is that it’s apropos of nothing except for the fact that Spitzer is a PR god. When she says that she’s like Eliot Spitzer in the ad, it sounds exactly the same as when Bush invokes the memory of Truman.
Basically, “Elliot Spitzer” is a brand, like so few other personalities out there.
Whether he’ll deliver as governor is another issue. As you pointed out, it’s easy to go after Wall Street — post-Enron, everyone’s for that. It’s a lot harder to balance budgets, deliver services, etc., etc.
On this week’s show, we argued that Spitzer’s bascially jumped the shark. His early investigations were good, but by Season 3 or 4, he was launching high-profile investigations into random toothpaste manufacturers and the like. It’s as if his writers were starved for new material.