November 25, 2014 12:27 PM UTC

Colorado's BEST Political Ads (2014)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Here's our list of Colorado's BEST Political Ads in 2014. Click here to get back to the introduction page.

Colorado's BEST Political Ads (2014):

1. "Joe Neguse for Colorado First Ad," Joe Neguse (D) for Secretary of State [30 Seconds]
If there was a better political ad in Colorado in 2014, we didn't see it. The first campaign spot for Joe Neguse was a simple affair, with the candidate speaking directly to the camera about making his first-ever political advertisement. Rather than asking for your vote in the ad, Neguse talks about his desire to improve the voting process for everyone in Colorado. There isn't much in the way of fancy production value in Neguse's ad — it wouldn't have been necessary, anyway — but this straightforward approach really worked because the script is well-written and Neguse has the natural charisma to grab the viewer's attention. While not "technically" complex, this type of spot is much more difficult than it looks; some candidates either don't speak well in front of a camera or are working off of a script with too many buzzwords and rhetoric to make a connection with the audience. Neguse handled this one perfectly.

2. "Nice Guy," Cory Gardner (R) for U.S. Senate [30 Seconds]
"I'm Cory Gardner, and I'm going to tell you something you've never heard in a political commercial. My opponent, Mark Udall, is a real nice guy." If you had to sum up the 2014 U.S. Senate race with just two sentences, these opening lines would work pretty well. Gardner is his cherubic self, appearing confident and likeable, and you immediately understand the double-meaning behind the "nice guy" statement (the implication, of course, is that Colorado needs a Senator who is more than just a "nice guy.") The ad also does a terrific job of highlighting Gardner's Yuma roots as the son and grandson of tractor salesmen; you may have no idea what they are doing on the table in the background, but it seems homey and small-businessey. It is often said in politics that you must "make the case to fire" before you can "make the case to hire," and this ad does a great job of doing both while keeping the candidate likable.

3. "Big Shoes," Cory Gardner (R) for U.S. Senate [30 Seconds]
Gardner's campaign believed from the start that they had the more likable candidate in the Senate race (compared with Democratic Sen. Mark Udall); we'd argue with that reality, but Gardner's team certainly put that narrative to good use in their TV spots. This type of ad really works well when your opponent isn't defining himself — which is one place where Udall got into real trouble — but this stands as a strong advertisement on its own. A big part of making a candidate likable is also making him (or her) more relatable to the average voter, which is something that Udall did well in his 2008 Senate campaign. Gardner couldn't run on his record, so he created a persona that was non-threatening and genial. Whether this is the real Cory Gardner or just a great acting job is a debate for another time — this is just a good TV ad with a smart message and tone. 

4. "Deception II," NextGen Climate Action on Senate Candidate Cory Gardner [2 Minutes]
It's difficult to compare TV ads of different length, but a good TV ad should be strong no matter the running time. This 2-minute ad from NextGen Climate is 4 times longer than a typical 30 second spot and was drafted as the second of a three-part series of ads highlighting the "deception" of Cory Gardner. What the series does really well (and with this ad particularly) is to take the "Gardner is anti-women" narrative a step further by showing how Gardner's inconsistencies on a number of issues are a challenge to his credibility in general. Where NextGen really succeeds is in making side-by-side comparisons of how Gardner's changing answers about Personhood and other issues reflect an attempt to deceive voters by muddying his positions. The anti-Gardner narrative should have evolved to this point much sooner, instead of getting bogged down on contraception (the campaign of Democrat Mark Udall never really made this final connection for voters). Regardless, NextGen hit a home run with these ads by letting the facts tell the story while rhetoric took a breather.

5. State Senate/Jeffco School Board, "Colorado Voters' Voice" [30 seconds]
There were several variations of this ad linking Republican state senate candidates to the controversy surrounding the Jefferson County School Board, and all of them were well-done. These ads are a great example of connecting a big local issue — the attempted re-writing of history books in Jeffco — to candidates on the ballot for a separate office. You don't often see this kind of micro-targeting around a specific local issue, in large part because it requires quick thinking and flexibility to put it all together while the window is still open. It's also worth noting that several version of this ad were created for different candidates, and all were cut so that they didn't appear like they were part of a cookie-cutter campaign.

6. "Leading," and "Rebuilding," John Hickenlooper (D) for Governor [30 seconds]
These were the advertisements that probably ensured Gov. Hickenlooper's re-election. Both spots are positive and both focus on Colorado's economic growth under Hickenlooper's leadership, but they are more than just their collective parts; these ads really encapsulated the leadership qualities that you want to see from your Governor. By telling a story using Colorado's experience with wildfires and floods, these spots also help create a feeling of ownership with the viewer — a feeling that "we are all in this together." Hickenlooper had plenty of problems during the 2014 campaign, but his message discipline remained intact and enabled him to break through the advertising clutter with two great spots.

"Leading"

"Rebuilding"

7. "MIssing," Betsy Markey (D) for State Treasurer [30 seconds]
We have this spot in our "BEST" ads of the cycle for one very simple reason: It nearly won the race for Betsy Markey. This would have been a stronger spot if Markey's campaign had been able to generate more earned media attention for Walker Stapleton's keycard controversy — it could use a headline or two from a news outlet shaming Stapleton — but this was still a very strong ad that clearly explained both the "case to fire" and the "case to hire." This ad also made Stapleton's campaign completely poop its pants in the last month of the election cycle, the result of which probably disqualified Stapleton from making a serious bid for higher office down the line.