Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

That Jeb! Super Bowl ad

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As soon as it started, it was clear who was talking. Our old buddy, George W.

Frankly, I was pretty shocked to see he was doing an ad for Jeb! I’m not sure it will help Jeb’s going nowhere campaign, but they clearly needed to do something.

At the end when they say it’s from a PAC, I was surprised. Everyone knows that PACs and campaigns can’t coordinate (even though they clearly do, albeit with a carefully managed paper trail to show they don’t). But this one seemed a bit different. Wouldn’t the PAC have to get approval from Jeb’s campaign to use George? Would that be a violation? Maybe they did it without the campaign’s input, but that seems highly unlikely.

What do others think?

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Comments

  1. I was surprised when it showed on my screen. Sure, for SC, put lil Bush on. But to remind NH voters of the guy they spurned when he was the favorite? It’s making so many voters recall who they didn’t like when it was a lot easier to like him.

    This would be like Bernie trotting out Jimmy Carter in an ad.

    • …and to answer the diarist’s question W is an independent adult. He certainly could have worked with Right to Rise on his own without the advice and consent of his brother’s campaign.

    • In NH, Jeb is not after anything like a majority of primary voters. He just needs some forward motion. For him, 10% would be awesome.

      Probably there are more than 10% of primary voters for whom W is a name to conjure by and for whom this is a meaningful endorsement. I don’t know how meaningful, but it’s not a wacked out move.

      • Nothing else has worked for Jeb!. Putting W up there might be a disaster, but if it is, he doesn’t lose anything since the campaign is a disaster already.

  2. I was amazed — not just because it’s a former President in a primary ad, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen. But it was DURING THE SUPER BOWL! That means it cost over a million dollars just to air.

    I don’t know what the going rate was this year, but whatever it is said to be, it drops later in the game. But there’s no way it was less than a million to air that.

    • A 30 second ad cost up to $5 million for the Super Bowl this year, depending upon when during the game it aired and any ad adjacencies.

    • Tried to uprate.

      Carly Fiorino also had an ad, but it only ran on NH CBS stations. GW was on WBZ as well.

      I don’t know if this is a first. Years ago, I suggested to Mitt’s campaign that he do this, especially given his NH connections,but campaign weasels thought the Pats were too disliked nationwide. I told them I was pretty sure NH already knew he was Governor of MA.

      Ironically it might have been a good year. The number of CBS promo spots tells me that WBZ didn’t sell out of time.

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