[ClearCase_guy]

Advertising campaigns are a waste of money.
But so are consultants.

No one believes any of that stuff.

Just show me the candidate and have them speak plainly and tell me how they feel. That’s what Trump did. And it worked.

[vette6387]

“But so are consultants.”

Yeah, these guys have looted the GOPe treasury and brought them bupkiss in terms of winning races. All you have to do is look at Trump vs.16 other A$$holes last year and I rest my case. As you rightly point out, plain speaking “trumps” Madison Avenue BS with the people now, and we can thank President Trump for “flipping everyone’s switch” in terms of waking up their sleeping political brains. Everyone is like “sleeping beauty” now, and Trump is “prince charming!”

[lacrew]

Last year I witnessed the power of a deluge of money and well executed advertising campaign, in a little heard of race in Kansas. The establishment poured money in to primary an incumbent congressman (Huelskamp). By the time primary election day rolled around, the voting public was convinced Huelskamp was Karl Marx and Obama rolled into one.

Advertising may no longer matter for national races, but in these small fry districts, McConnell can 'nationalize' the money pouring in at a ratio of 10:1 and prevail.

[Rockingham]

I have read most of the studies on the subject and see them as conceptually flawed by the so-called "ecological fallacy" in which unwarranted inferences about individual cases and circumstances are made based on statistical data.

Attractive and capable candidates, proper issue selection, favorable news media coverage, adequate funding, well-chosen campaign spending, and campaigning well all matter greatly, and especially so in primaries. For general elections, only a relative handful of races are genuinely in doubt because party loyalty and the general political environment usually dominate over individual factors.

Above all, with America's affluence and well-developed political system, decent candidates with an objective chance of winning are almost always able to attract the necessary funds and political support to be in contention. Bad candidates though in unfavorable political environments tend to lose even when their campaigns are over-funded.

[MortMan]

Just show me the candidate and have them speak plainly and tell me how they feel.

The problem is, with politicians you can't discern truth from fiction. And THAT is a direct consequence of their leaning on political consultants so heavily.

[Liz]

TOO DEEP FOR COCKEYED LIBERALS TO UNDERSTAND
BUT IT'S NO SURPRISE TO SAVVY CONSERVATIVES........

The uber-liberal Washington Post exhibits a new academic study showing that candidate Hillary Clinton's billion dollar ad machine (and years-long burnishing of her campaign credentials......especially as Secy of State sucking up to foreign powers)......had almost no measurable persuasive impact, at least in general elections.

REALITY CHECK---The nefarious multi-billion dollar Clinton Family Foundation had bought off everything in sight.....they figured she was a shoo-in.

The Clinton arrogance was breathtaking.

They campaigned like they were sitting on top of the world. They did outrageous things in full view of the electorate.

Smarty-pants Hillary and Bill figured those "stupid deplorables" couldn't figure it out.