Slick

Another poll out today that confirms a tightening race in Ontario, fair to say almost any configuration is possible at this point. Plenty of digestion why Hudak's big lead has eroded, but from the Liberal perspective the trendlines offer a relatively positive entry into the real election race.

One thing I've been quite impressed with are the Liberal ads. I'm not sure how the ads are resonating, but they're quite sharp, focused, clean and somewhat outside the box, politically speaking. Case in point, this latest ad featuring McGuinty:



I genuinely love this ad, particularly McGuinty front and center, addressing his popularity in confident fashion. The subsequent listing of achievements, with clever sourcing to cement, it's a very slick ad. In the past, when campaigns are faced with an unpopular leader, they tend to emphasize everything but, that's a known strategy. However, I've always thought avoiding the elephant in the room is a mistake, and the Liberals have devised a clever way to acknowledge the true "drag" and turn it around into a testament to achievement.

I recall PC's and others howling at early ads, because they didn't show McGuinty or only used his voice, evidence they said of just how unpopular he really is, what a liability. Interesting then that the Liberals put out an ad that is all McGuinty, a plain backdrop, he is 100% of the focus. When you weave this ad in with the other offering, I see a strategy which can be quite effective.

I remember in the last federal campaign stating that the NDP seemed to have the better ads, ours seemed fairly pedestrian, standard, nothing of real interest. I mention this fact only because any "pumping" of Liberal ads now will immediately be seen as simple partisanship. Whomever is running the ads within Team Ontario Liberal, it's looking quite impressive from here...