October 29, 2008

Errol Morris Walks the Thin Blue Line With Ads for Obama

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Back in 2004, filmmaker Errol Morris made a series of brilliantly simple political ads for MoveOn. Modeled after the Apple “Switch” ads, they featured Republicans explaining why they wouldn’t be voting for George W. Bush again. A couple of the ads aired, but otherwise the campaign fizzled, and the rest is history. Morris described the experience as “horrible” when I spoke with him a few months ago.

But now he’s back, lending his Interrotron to the cause. His new “People in the Middle” ads star moderate voters who plan to vote for Obama. Not surprisingly, the ads are subtle and effective. And the real people in them are a refreshing break from the increasingly unreal real people like Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder. Over at his New York Times blog, Morris explains how this campaign is not just a reprise of Kerry Switch:

This time &mdash as opposed to 2004 &mdash the content of the interviews has been qualitatively different. The people I interviewed have embraced Obama. They are voting for a candidate, not against a candidate. Lissa Lucas, for example, tells the story of voting for someone for the first time in her life. There is a feeling of hopefulness. There is this optimism, even though the situation in the country is arguably much worse than four years ago.

But are these spots actually going to air wherever the last bastions of undecideds and would-be Obamacans are holed up? I’ve put in a call to People for the American Way, which is sponsoring the ads. If you’re in a swing-state and see one of them on TV, leave a comment.

Update: PFAW says the ads are Internet-only.

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

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