We're down to the home stretch in the 2008 American presidential nomination. As usual, the television ads are full of interesting tidbits, many not even true, about the candidates. It hasn't always been this way. In fact, in the recent past, nominees actually created ads for reasons other than seducing the United States into a trance to vote for them.
Haha, just kidding. I mean, would this great country all a politician to just speak the truth and lay out the facts?
Without getting too philosophical, check out The Living Room Candidate for campaign commercials back to 1952. That's right, that even includes the "I like Ike" cartoon for Dwight Eisenhower (for the same year, though, check out Adli Stevenson's farmer ad).
If you want to go back further, you can listen to The First Sound Bites, which includes recordings of William Howard Taft and William Jennings Bryan from the 1908 election. Bryan's theme is "Guaranty of Bank Deposits," which is eerily similar to the bank failures occurring today.
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