Did the governor of South Dakota just post sponcon?
Plus: For his first ad of the general election campaign, Biden speaks for himself
Hello, in this issue we’ll look at…
For his first ad of the general election campaign, Biden speaks for himself
Did the governor of South Dakota just post sponcon?
How third party candidates could complicate the election
Scroll to the end to see: how this year’s super short primary campaign compares with past years.
For his first ad of the general election campaign, Biden speaks for himself
President Joe Biden clinched the nomination Tuesday, but his campaign wasn’t waiting on formalities to start airing general election campaign ads.
Biden acts as his own narrator in “For You,” a new spot his campaign announced last week as part of a $30 million post-State-of-the-Union ad buy. Biden speaks straight to camera, jokes about his age (“Look, I’m not a young guy, that’s no secret, but here’s the deal, I understand how to get things done for the American people”), talks about his record, and compares his opinion of the presidency to what he says is former President Donald Trump’s.
“Donald Trump believes the job of the president is to take care of Donald Trump,” he says. “I believe the job of the president is to fight for you, the American people.”
Narrating your own ad isn’t always the best call. A recent study about the effectiveness of political ads I wrote about last month found ads in which a politician was an ad’s messenger actually had a negative effect on favorability and vote choice in the 2020 presidential race. Biden mostly left his ad narration in 2020 to others, a review of his campaign’s ads from the Museum of Moving Images shows.
Still, in speaking for himself, Biden pushes back against claims he’s too old to speak coherently, which may be the point. “Look, I’m very young, energetic, and handsome, what the hell am I doing this for,” he says in the ads closing after a voice off camera asks him to do another take.
The ad is aimed at young voters and voters of color, the campaign told Politico, and will air on cable networks including ESPN, TNT, FX, and Comedy Central. It’s also getting heavy play online. The ad has been seen on Google’s platforms at least 5.3 million times since last Friday, according to Google’s ad library.
Did the governor of South Dakota just post sponcon?
Smile, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem just got her teeth done.
Noem, a Republican floated as a potential running mate for Trump, posted a video on her personal campaign social media accounts Monday about a procedure she had with a Texas dentist to adjust her teeth following a bike accident. In the nearly five-minute video, Noem praises the Houston-based Smile Texas for their work and for fitting her in despite her busy schedule.
Online, though, many people were just wondering if it was an ad.
The Federal Trade Commission says if you endorse a product on social media, “your endorsement message should make it obvious when you have a relationship with the brand,” including for free or discounted products or services. Noem didn’t indicate whether the video was a paid ad in her post, and her office didn’t reply to emailed questions about whether she was paid or compensated for it.
Smile Texas reshared Noem’s video to its Instagram account, and it regularly uses testimonial videos like hers to promote its work on social media. The company proudly touts itself as the official dentists of Miss Texas USA, and though Noem is the first sitting governor they’ve publicized their work for, they gave a “smile makeover” to the daughter of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Bristol Palin, in 2018 (fun fact: that same year, Sarah Palin posted a promotion for 15% off a “skinny tea” on Instagram, and though the brand, Teami, didn’t tell me at the time whether Palin was paid for her post, she did use the hashtag #thankyouteami).
Ads for private businesses are banned at the federal level, Craig Holman, a campaign finance and governmental ethics expert at the watchdog group Public Citizen told the Daily Beast. Since Noem is a state official, though, those same rules don’t apply, but Holman said if she was paid it could violate gift rules.
As governor, Noem has starred in no fewer than eight ads since June 2023 as part of “Freedom Works Here,” a workforce recruitment campaign. In the spots, Noem plays a welder, law enforcement officer, and yes, a dentist, as a shtick to highlight the overabundance of job openings in the state.
“We’ve got more jobs than people. Now I’m filling in until you get here,” she says in one ad dressed as an electrician.
Like her teeth, Noem outsourced the campaign to an out-of-state company, the Ohio-based Go West Media. The firm, whose head Ben Yoho was CEO of Vivek Ramawamy’s presidential campaign, beat out six other in- and out-of-state firms to win the $5 million contract.
Noem’s office said last month the “Freedom Works Here” campaign had been viewed more than 950 million times and more than 8,800 people have expressed interest in moving to the state.
How third party candidates could complicate the election
With a majority of registered voters in the U.S. unenthused about a Biden-Trump rematch, 2024 seems especially well suited for third party candidates. They just might not pull all the same voters that third party candidates have in recent elections.
Last week the third-party group No Labels voted to move ahead with its plans to put forward a presidential ticket, though they still need candidates. And on Tuesday, Democrat-turned-independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Minnesota’s former Reform Party governor Jesse Ventura are on his shortlist for running mate. Then there’s perennial Green Party candidate Jill Stein, independent candidate Cornel West, and whoever the Libertarians end up nominating (RFK Jr. has shown interest).
Though they have an ice cube’s chance in Arizona of actually being elected, it doesn’t necessarily take much for a third-party candidate to impact the outcome of an election in a swing state during a tight race. Green Party candidate Ralph Nader won no votes in the Electoral College in 2000, but he did win 97,488 votes that year in Florida, a state decided by just 537 votes.
What could make the threat to major parties posed by third party candidates different from past years, though, is where on the political spectrum their supporters might come from. Stein pulled votes from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016 and a strong Libertarian candidate would likely be a greater headache for Republicans than Democrats. Candidates this year, however, could make a play for the center. No Labels has positioned itself a centrist group, and Kennedy’s unusual mix of policy positions (an anti-vaxxer environmentalist, a Kennedy selling trucker hats) defies easy partisan categorization.
For its part, the Lincoln Project is advertising accordingly. Last year their Lincoln Democracy Institute aired ads arguing No Labels would put Trump back into the White House, and their digital ads now running on Meta are explicit about who they’re trying to reach. Touting their ad “Hero” as “one of the best political ads I’ve ever seen,” their digital ad copy continues, “The media and the internet have seen it and can't stop talking about it. But you know who needs to watch it? >> SWING VOTERS <<.”
Have you seen this?
TikTok bill passes House in bipartisan vote, moving one step closer to possible ban. The vote was 352 in favor and 65 opposed, underscoring its broad bipartisan support, with 197 Republicans and 155 Democrats voting to approve it. [CBS News]
The White House says it doesn’t digitally alter photos of Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, or first lady Jill Biden. When asked about it Tuesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “why would we digitally alter photos? Are you comparing us to what’s going on in the U.K.?” Just asking questions! [The Recount]
The 2024 presidential primary season was one of the shortest in the modern political era. Trump became the last Republican candidate standing 244 days before Election Day, the fastest a primary has wrapped since John Kerry in 2004. [Pew Research]
This $5 million Civil War-era stamp could smash an auction record. The one-cent “Z-grill” stamp featuring Benjamin Franklin is one of two known to exist (side note: imagine sending a letter with a $5 million stamp). [Artnet News]
🔒 Dressed in Ralph Lauren, Nikki Haley showed a new kind of campaign wardrobe. “A woman’s appearance is under a microscope,” the authors of the 2021 edition of “Keys to Elected Office: The Essential Guide for Women” wrote, but they suggested some ways to minimize the scrutiny. “Winning candidates develop a look and style that is authentic and appropriate.” For Haley, that included Ralph Lauren’s Flag Cotton Crewneck. [Yello]
History of political design
McCain-Palin lipstick kiss button (2008). Q: What’s the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? A: Lipstick. This button played on the quip from then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s convention speech as the first woman on a Republican presidential ticket.
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