e.politics: online advocacy tools & tactics

McCain Campaign Leaks Anti-Romney Ad to Slate’s John Dickerson

December 28th, 2007

Here’s a sneaky way to use the web to put a knife in the other guy: leak an ad targeting your opponent to an online media outlet which can then post it for mass distribution. Combine that with the journalist’s own email distribution list, and you have instant publicity (thanks for the note, John). Besides using Romney’s own words against him in brutally effective fashion, the ad is also interesting in that it was produced by a media group now working for the Romney campaign — they’d been on Team McCain originally but left when he ran into trouble earlier in the year. Kudos to Dickerson and Slate for putting the piece out in context rather than simply running it straight, as you’ll see below.

For more background and analysis, see Slate. For Romney’s reaction, listen for the distant sound of wailing, moaning and gnashing of teeth.

Update: Why do I like this idea so much? Everybody loves a scoop or a leak — something that feels as though you’re getting an insider’s glimpse, and it makes someone like me that much more likely to link to it. It’s just a little naughty! I bet the TV types pick up on it like crazy. When your campaign is short on cash, free media exposure is priceless.

– cpd