These
are two classic uplift pieces, proof that campaign advertising can be almost
entirely positive in tone. Perhaps the classic upbeat piece comes from the campaign
of Republican Ronald Reagan in his 1984 re-election effort. Overwhelmingly positive,
its main point is to claim credit for an economic recovery, and to the extent
that it addresses the opposition at all, its putative opponent is really former
President Jimmy Carter, not Democratic nominee Walter Mondale. Another piece
in the same genre is from the campaign of Democrat Bill Clinton in 1996. The
piece was not much appreciated by the campaign itself, which pulled it from
the airwaves fairly quickly, but it is even more positive than the Reagan piece
and wonderfully evocative.
