With just over two weeks before the midterm elections – and the fight for control of the Senate still very much up in the air — candidates and outside groups have been cranking out ads. Red-state Democrats are trying to put distance between themselves and President Obama, who remains deeply unpopular among large swaths of voters. Several Republicans, meanwhile, are trying to capitalize on the recent Ebola crisis and the rise of ISIS – often using scare tactics to do so. They’re also trying to dispel some of the more unsavory parts of the GOP’s reputation, including the Democratic charge that conservatives are waging a “war on women.”
This election cycle has been filled with a range of ads — funny, bizarre, nasty, and everything in between. From wrangling alligators to Cliven Bundy cameo, here’s a look at the most talked-about campaign spots of this cycle.
“Make ‘em squeal”
Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst, who is in a heated race in Iowa against Democrat Bruce Braley, was propelled into the national spotlight earlier this spring with this ad. In it, Ernst makes the argument that she’s uniquely qualified to cut spending in Washington. “I grew up castrating hogs on an Iowa farm, so when I get to Washington, I’ll know how to cut pork,” says Ernst, smiling as video footage of pigs is played. “Washington’s full of big spenders. Let’s make ‘em squeal,” Ernst declares.
Get those gaters!
Rob Manness, a Tea Party candidate trying to oust Democrat Sen. Mary Landrieu in Louisiana, is also going with an animal theme –arguing his experience with alligators makes him tough enough to take on DC politicians. “Here in Louisiana, you learn to be tough,” he says in an ad first released in May. “One moment of weakness and the alligators could eat you alive.” The ad features plenty of reptiles roaming around and repeated sound bytes of an alligator chomp. It finishes with Manness taping one of the reptile’s mouth shut and him declaring “Louisiana needs a senator that’s going to stand up to the career politicians—and the alligators.”
Going too far?
Democratic candidate for Texas governor Wendy Davis came under scrutiny for a controversial attack ad that came out last month depicting an empty wheelchair — an eye-popping reference to her Republican opponent, Greg Abbott, who has been in a wheelchair since 1984 after an accident that left him a paraplegic. The spot accuses Abbott of siding against accident victims during his time as Texas attorney general despite being awarded $10 million after his own accident. Davis has insisted the ad was not a personal attack on Abbott.
‘Electile dysfunction’
This ad cost J.D. Winteregg’s job teaching at a Christian college, but it did win him some big laughs. Winteregg, who unsuccessfully took on House Speaker John Boehner in Ohio’s GOP primary, charged Boehner suffers from “electile dysfunction” in a spot styled after commercials for drugs like Cialis. “Your electile dysfunction? It could be a question of blood flow. Sometimes when a politician has been in D.C. too long, it goes to his head and he just can’t seem to get the job done,” says the narrator, who later adds, “If you have a Boehner lasting more than 23 years, seek immediate medical attention.” Boehner is expected to sail to victory against Democratic challenger Tom Poetter.
Channeling Willie Horton
A new campaign ad from the National Republican Congressional Committee is drawing comparisons to the infamous “Willie Horton” spot that wreaked havoc in 1988 on Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis. The NRCC ad takes aim at Democratic Nebraska House candidate Brad Ashford, who is a tight race against Republican Rep. Lee Terry. The spot criticizes Ashford for backing a state law that cuts prison sentences for time served. It features Nikko Jennings, a convicted felon who killed four people over 10 days after being released from jail in 2013. In 1988, the GOP similarly tied Dukakis to felon Willie Horton, who raped a woman, beat her boyfriend and stole a car while on a weekend furlough from jail in Massachusetts. Democrats immediately criticized the latest NRCC ad as race-baiting.
A Cliven Bundy cameo









