The Washington Post article titled, “In Colorado, Big Coffers means slew of negative ads” is about the record spending money on the Colorado senate race, much of it focused on negative TV ads. Republican Ken Buck’s and Democrat Michael Bennet’s campaign have spent a combined $17.5 Million during the senate race, which is far more than any other race in the country. Bennet’s campaign is portrayed Buck as a flip-flopper who is “too extreme for Colorado.” Buck’s campaign is claiming that Bennet is a “rubber stamp of Obama,” who lets spending get too far out of control. Even though the TV ads have been prominently negative, they appeal to the public because they remind the public of the importance of civic engagement through voting, they raise important matters of public concern for discussion and debate, and they provide a reminder that, in the United States, governmental power is not held indefinitely and indiscriminately by any one individual (85). In general, the public knows little about politics so campaigns focus on an appeal to emotion by using these attack ads. Even though the negative ads drew complaints from residents in Colorado, there is no doubt that these ads can significantly impact an election. It certainly helped George H.W. Bush in the 1988 Presidential Election (89).
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/18/AR2010101805333_pf.html
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In chapter five of the text it discusses several of the symbols in Presidential Election Campaigns and how they are used in the efforts to attack the opposing candidate. In Dan's article I think he did a good job of expressing the advertisement attacks on opposing political parties. He states that in Buck's campaign Bennet is seen in very negative ways. He brings up the point that for the most part majority of the public knows little about campaigns or politics, however are very affected and influenced by the emotional attacks they are exposed to by the media. I thought this was a good point that he brought up. And also found it interesting that some residents complained about the ads.
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