Dave Ross: Who cares if campaign ads prey on weak minded; they work

We’re heading into a hot political season with a national presidential race and competitive local races, including what some are calling the hottest governor’s race in America. New campaign ads are cropping up every day touting candidates’ worthiness and spreading their message, but do all these ads from all directions do anything to sway the vote?

Former congressional candidate and radio veteran Dave Ross says absolutely.

He challenged now Congressman Dave Reichert in a race for the 8th Congressional District seat in 2004. Ross won the primary over his opponent, but the ground he made after that win, through a political ad campaign put out by the Democratic Committee, is what really surprised him.

“The polling the week after that showed me up 20 percent,” Ross tells Seattle’s Morning News.

He hadn’t commissioned the ads but they certainly made an impact. TV ads are a way to reach people that you wouldn’t have the opportunity to otherwise, Ross says. The goal is to touch as many people as you can.

“You shake somebody’s hand and they like you, they vote for you,” says Ross.

During the course of the campaign Ross went to over 12,000 doors, ringing bells to meet residents face-to-face. But he says it’s just impossible to do that with all the 900,000 people in your district.

TV is a way to make direct contact with voters and Ross explains you’d rather have them hear your message than whatever someone else is putting out about you. He believes some TV ads and mailers run by supporters of his opponent had a negative impact on the outcome of the race for him.

“For people who don’t know you and haven’t researched you, that’s the only thing they’re going to get, the only contact they’ll actually have with you,” says Ross.

In the end, Ross lost with 47 percent of the vote to Reichert’s 52.

Heading into this campaign season, he expects to see a lot of ads from a lot of candidates and parties.

“There’s a tremendous amount of money being spent,” says Ross. Even now, before all the ads have been been produced, he says candidates are securing ad positions in peak viewing and listening times, to reach the largest number of voters.

With mail-in ballots, there’s no real “election day” anymore he points out, so people should prepare for an even longer season of political ads on TV.

Some voters think they won’t be influenced by ads. Listener Andy writes, “If someone allows a political ad to sway their opinion, they are weak minded and probably shouldn’t vote.”

“Whether you’re weak minded or not, really who cares?” asks Ross. “The ads work for enough people to change results.”

By JAMIE GRISWOLD, MyNorthwest.com Editor