Bob Ehrlich: This is Dolores Avenue, Arbutus, Maryland.

It's a street where flags fly on the 4th, and the annual little league parade is a major event.

It's where I grew up and it's where Kendall and I bring our boys to see their grandparents.

We talk about family, football, school, whether the crabs are running, and always politics.

It's the place I still consider home. Its values are my values. The values I bring to my job as Governor everyday.

Narrator: Bob Ehrlich, changing Maryland for the better.

AD CONTEXT

In the midst of engaging in a hard-hitting negative campaign, Gov. Ehrlich and Mayor O'Malley are also airing positive, image-oriented advertisements. These biographical pieces are airing amongst hard-hitting charges, and therefore offer insight into the candidate's character. "Dolores Avenue" is the latest attempt by the Ehrlich campaign to remind voters of his small town, middle-class origins.

Governor Robert Ehrlich's family originates from Arbutus, Maryland. The ad informs viewers of the community in which he was raised, and of his relationships to his wife, Kendel, his parents, and his two sons. The governor explains that as a family they discuss "family, football, school, whether the crabs are running, and always politics." This ad is unique as it is focused on image construction of Governor Ehrlich as a man of the people, addressing no specific political issue.

AD ASSUMPTIONS

“Dolores Avenue” targets voters who will identify with the values of working-class, suburban culture. As an image ad, "Dolores Avenue" provides peripheral cues of small-town customs that are infused with traditional American families and their values. Gov. Ehrlich specifically identifies these values as patriotism, family, sports, school, crabbing, and civic participation. Moreover, he seeks to establish his continued connections to this culture, even as leader of a diverse, urban state. In Nelson and Boynton's (1997) discussion of political mythology, they explain, “the meanings of such spots stretch beyond elections to the culture's full panoply of politics” (p. 205). More specifically, “ Dolores Avenue ” stretches to the socio-cultural politics of middle-class identity. In the process, this ad assumes that the mythic nature of small town America has universal appeal.

SOUND AND IMAGE

As an image ad, "Dolores Avenue" features a variety of scenes that showcase Gov. Ehrlich's family life as happy, wholesome, and middle-class. This type of ad has been categorized by Kern (1989) as a "reassurance ad" meant to bolster voters' trust in the candidate.

Kern (1989) also argues that location plays an important role in establishing "bonds of identification and empathy between voter and candidate" (p. 83). Notably, "Dolores Avenue" begins with Gov. Ehrlich standing on a suburban street in front of row houses that display both American and Maryland flags. He showcases these images, and expresses pride at his modest roots. The ad then flashes to a scene of a young boy swinging his bat in a baseball game; this action reflects a popular activity in small-town life. Taken together, this sequence builds a theme of patriotism. Jamieson (1992) explains that patriotism invites “a visceral, not rational, response. This power is magnified by the emergence of short, visual, symbolically powerful televised ads that convey meaning without speaking it” (p. 64).

Within reassurance ads, "the symbols are of the candidate returning to the district, which, unlike Washington, is depicted as the real world of front porches, picnics, dramatic local vistas, hometown Main Streets—and real people" (Kern, 1989, p. 83). "Dolores Avenue" includes a sequence of Gov. Ehrlich and his young family on a deck, then quickly moves to shots of Gov. Ehrlich's parents on their front porch. Close-ups of the grandparents arguably show their warmth, friendliness, and hometown nature. The ad then flashes to a scene of Gov. Ehrlich eating crabs with his father and one of his young sons, followed by a scene of his son throwing a football. The two sons with the Governor's wife are quickly shown, followed by Gov. Ehrlich lifting a crab trap out of the water. Suddenly, the scene changes to Gov. Ehrlich campaigning, with a crowd of supporters and signs around him. The ad quickly moves back to Dolores Avenue, then shows Gov. Ehrlich campaigning with Kristen Cox, his running mate. These shots bolster the mythic small town theme as the Governor constructs an image of the American Dream where a man from a small town rises to become the governor of a state, reminiscent of Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

WHO'S TALKING ABOUT THIS AD?

Gov. Ehrlich's campaign website provides more detailed information on Arbutus, education, Gov. Ehrlich's legal career, his time in Congress, and his family.

http://www.bobehrlich.com/multimedia/details.aspx?id=26

Jamieson, Kathleen Hall (1992). Dirty politics. New York : Oxford University Press.

Kern, M. (1989). 30 second politics: Political advertising in the eighties. New York: Praeger.

Nelson, J., S., & Boynton, G. R. (1997). Video rhetorics: Televised advertising in American politics. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.