Ad Analysis Cardin "Straight"

“Straight” is the sixth campaign advertisement produced by Ben Cardin for Senate. Previous advertisements have been primarily positive, emphasizing Representative Cardin's “strong principles and effective leadership” (“Cardin Campaign Airs,” 2006). On September 26, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee released an attack ad, “Dogs,” which highlighted the relationship between Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele and President George W. Bush (“Dogs,” 2006). These ads have been released after a series of attack ads by Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele in which the Republican candidate positions himself as different from the “Washington crowd.”

The following represents a statement released by Ben Cardin for Senate about the “Straight” ad:

With his hypocritical and misleading attack ads, Michael Steele hopes to distract Marylanders from his unwavering support for President Bush. Michael Steele doesn't want the voters to know that he campaigned with President Bush, raised money with President Bush and stands with President Bush on the important issues. The real Michael Steele will be a voice of support for the Bush agenda, an agenda that's taking our nation in the wrong direction. (“New TV Ad,” 2006)

“Straight” clearly operates as an anti-Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele ad. Despite its negativity, Congressman Ben Cardin, however, does not appear in the advertisement except to give his message of approval in the last frame. This non-direct approach seems to blunt the potential negativity of the attack ad.

The advertisement relies upon four assumptions that all speak to the issue of distrust of Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele. The first key to the advertisement's message is the assumption that President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney's political goals and practices are detrimental to the wellbeing of Marylanders. Second the advertisement contends that Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele is so closely aligned with President George W. Bush—a political affiliation that threatens to impact Maryland state politics. Third, the advertisement also assumes that Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele is purposefully misleading constituents by not telling them the “facts” of his political position, particularly in relation to his support of President George W. Bush. Finally, “Straight” contends that by providing Maryland voters with “facts,” which Lieutenant Governor Steele has purposefully left out of his campaign messages, viewers will realize that the Lt. Governor is not the best candidate for Maryland in the 2006 U.S. Senate race. According to the ad, these facts are so alarming that they speak for themselves and are persuasive enough to discredit Lt. Governor Steele's reputation.

Representative Ben Cardin, conspicuously absent in a negative ad that directly attacks the motives, morals, and goals of challenger Lt. Governor Michael Steele, sets the record “straight” for constituents. Lt. Governor Steele “convicts” himself of supporting President Bush and his administration's policies. Representative Cardin believes that the facts—and Lt. Governor Steele—speak for themselves. Viewers become the arbiter of Lt. Governor Steele's character as they see his self-professed support of the president.

“Straight” provides viewers with a series of claims linking Lt. Governor Michael Steele with President George W. Bush and his administration. An anxiety-provoking musical score accompanies the ad and communicates a sense of warning that complements the ad's overall message. The advertisement opens with a muted clip of Lt. Governor Michael Steele from his own advertisement, “Real Ideas for Change.” This borrowed portion of the Lieutenant Governor's ad showcases the candidate speaking of “the Washington crowd.” We do not hear Lt. Governor Steele's words, as a male voiceover poses the question “The truth about Michael Steele?” The narrator's voice renders the Lt. Governor voiceless, and the juxtaposition of image and unfamiliar voice suggests that the candidate's words are not to be trusted. A drum punch accentuates the word “truth” emphasizing the relevance of honesty in this advertisement.

After the narrator poses his rhetorical question, he proceeds to list “truths” about Representative Cardin's opponent. Central to each of these claims is the Lt. Governor's supportive relationship with President George W. Bush. The first “fact” presented is that Lt. Governor Michael Steele was “recruited by Bush and Cheney.” These words appear to glow on the screen as the narrator illuminates information that (as the advertisement suggests) Lt. Governor Steele has withheld from Marylanders. These words appear before a triptych of President Bush, Lt. Governor Steele, and Vice President Cheney. The stills capture both the President and the Vice President looking downward and to the right side of the screen. The President is pointing to something beyond the frame that seems to have also caught the Vice President's attention. Sandwiched between the two leaders is a picture of Lt. Governor Steele, standing behind a podium emblazoned with a Bush/Cheney poster. The Lieutenant Governor is looking upward and pointing toward something to the left of the screen. The placement of these pictures evokes the feeling that the Lieutenant Governor is looking at the President and Vice President, and vice versa. The use of this imagery underscores the advertisement's claim that Lt. Governor Steele has been sought out and recruited by the two leaders, suggesting a close alliance among these three Republican leaders. This use of similar images in close proximity with one another heightens viewers' likelihood of “spot[ing] connections,” media scholar Mitchell Stephens suggests. Stephens (1998) notes that pictures can quickly and efficiently build an argument for which words are not needed, and that sameness in “expressions” and “position on-screen” add to conclusions drawn about those represented through the medium of television and video (p. 180).

“Straight” continues by listing several other “facts” including Lt. Governor Steele's acceptance of “special interest money.” The Lieutenant Governor, the ad conveys, also “supports Bush's plan to privatize Social Security and Bush's war in Iraq.” These statements call more attention to the perceived relationship between Lt. Governor Steele and President Bush than to the complicated nuances of these issues. While hearing this claim, viewers first see a head shot of two mature adults, one after the other, who turn to face the camera. The tightly-framed picture only reveals two somber, concerned faces, as the woman and man look directly into the camera, seemingly imploring sympathy from viewers. The next scene seems to be in Iraq , as viewers see a soldier emerging from a tank which is in front of a burning structure. The picture immediately switches to an unrecognizable landscape filled with black, billowing smoke. These pictures send a visual message that associates the Iraq war with uncontrolled damage and destruction. Each of these images—those “from the war” and those of the elderly woman and man—are “condensation symbols,” which gain “intensity from the associations” that are not explicitly stated or shown (Edelman, 1988, p. 73). “Bush's plan” and “Bush's war,” spoken and written on the screen, are verbal and visual messages that emphasize Lt. Governor Steele's association and support of President Bush. The accompanying visuals suggest the detrimental cost of the President's agenda, and implicate Lt. Governor Steele in this troubling governance.

The culmination of “Straight” involves another rhetorical question. “Now Steele wants you to believe he'll follow his own convictions,” warns the narrator, as the following question appears on the screen: “What are Steele's convictions?” Instead of Representative Cardin or the narrator answering this question, “Straight” allows Lt. Governor Steele to answer the query himself. The narrator prepares the audience for “the truth” as the image changes from a head shot of Lt. Governor Steele to a full-body shot of him at the Republican National Convention in 2004 where President Bush is nominated for a second term in office. The Lt. Governor's image fills half of the screen while the other half shows the surging convention crowd, riddled with signs calling for the President's reelection. Lt. Governor Steele proclaims “the standard bearer of these convictions is George W. Bush.” At this moment, Lt. Governor Steele's statement becomes his own testimony of accepting and promulgating President Bush's convictions as his own. During this scene, the background music rises to a tense, high note that is suspended throughout the rest of the advertisement and accompanies the message with an eerie and foreboding sound. Political scientists Nelson and Boynton (1997) emphasize the importance of an advertisement's aural component when they note, "the words in ads tell you about . . .threats, the pictures show or symbolize them, but the musics and sounds of threat are what help you to feel them (p. 136). This use of suspenseful music in "Straight" enhances the ad's overall message of warning by prompting a sense of discomfort or dread in the viewer.

The final frame of “Straight” proclaims the advertisement's suggestions leading up to this point. “Michael Steele: right for Bush, wrong for Maryland,” says the narrator as the same words brighten the screen. They appear before yet another split screen, this time shared by the President and the Lieutenant Governor. Viewers see the same picture of a pointing George W. Bush that appeared earlier, but next to this photograph is a similar one of Lt. Governor Steele. The Lt. Governor is also pointing his index finger, but instead of looking and pointing off-screen as President Bush does, he gazes and points directly to the viewer. This arrangement of the two pictures visually implies that Lt. Governor Steele acts as a conduit for President Bush's agenda. The ad suggests that Lt. Governor Steele not only supports President Bush, but is actually guided by the President's convictions, decisions, and actions. Considering the advertisement's assumption that President Bush's agenda is detrimental to the wellbeing of Marylanders, this conclusion may be disheartening and unsettling to viewers watching the ad.

“Straight” presents Lt. Governor Steele as a threat to the wellbeing of Marylanders, which frames him as a potential enemy of the State of Maryland . The ad suggests that the Republican candidate has been caught in mis-representations of self, which not only emphasizes the Lt. Governor's actions (i.e., accepting special interest money) but also the “convictions” and values which align him with President George W. Bush. According to Murray Edelman (1988), “an opponent is an enemy rather than an adversary” when “it is not the process but the character of the opponent that focuses attention” (p. 67). Lt. Governor Steele's self-proclaimed support of President George W. Bush situates him not only as Representative Cardin's opponent in the race for U.S Senate, but as an enemy of the people. “Straight” does not have to make an attack on the Lt. Governor since the clip of him at 2004 Republican National Convention offers visual and verbal proof of the candidate's affiliation with the president. This proof is seemingly uncontestable, as the visual image is highly persuasive and provides “an inherent guarantee of authenticity that is absent from words” (Messaris, 1997, p. 141).

Representative Cardin also takes care to provide voters with the “facts” about Lt. Governor Steele without putting himself in the middle of this attack. While other Cardin for Senate ads are narrated by the Congressman, this advertisement does not feature Representative Cardin—visually or verbally—until the final approval message. As such, the advertisement prioritizes the role of the viewer as arbiter, able to make up his or her mind on the suggested danger of electing Lt. Governor Steele to the U.S. Senate. The advertisement prompts viewers to “check the facts” and therefore suggests that these facts can speak for themselves and do not need the mediation of a politician. Joshua Meyrowitz (1995) notes that the mediated image in today's political environment allows consumers to have “personal, intimate views of politicians” that ultimately lead the viewers to make up their own minds about the political figure. Meyrowitz continues: “The party's function as a mediator between candidate and voter, for example, is dramatically undermined by the media that give us an increasing sense that we ‘know' our leaders personally. Why should we leave it to others to tell us what to think about candidates when we can judge them for ourselves” (p. 131-132)? Thus, Representative Cardin's role is to set Maryland 's record “straight” on the “real” Lieutenant Governor Steele in a way that will not be considered a negative, mud-slinging tactic. By using clips from the opponent's advertisements and juxtaposing them with his own contradictory words, Representative Cardin's attack against Lieutenant Governor Steele is more indirect, re-enforcing his earlier campaign appeal to do what is right for Maryland.