I didn't notice, but I didn't watch too carefully. Anyway, most people won't watch them online, one after another.
I don't watch TV, but my parents said they saw a Simon commercial and a Davis commercial last night, possibly one immediately after the other. They weren't paying enough attention to notice the content, but they did recognize the faces, which makes me wonder whether there is any problem of Californians not knowing who Bill Simon is. I hope it's not severe, but, if it is, these ads will raise awareness.
I would definitely say that we get a very exaggerated sense of politics from FR. Before FR started, I don't think there was any easy, systematic way to gain access to so much political information. But what this means is that attentive Freepers, almost by definition, learn more about politics faster than any other group(*).
Outside of FR, politics just isn't important to that many people. Why do you think half or less of this nation votes, even in Presidential elections?
D
(*) Visit DemocraticUnderground.com or smirkingchimp.com, and you'll see they're downright pathetic in their level of coverage and comments compared to FR.