Even
more problematic are the campaigns of Vice Presidents trying to succeed their
Presidents. The only successful example in the television era belongs to Republican
George Bush Sr. in 1988, and the piece the campaign used to address these problems
was itself highly successful. “The Experience” comes as close as
an ad can possibly come to implying that its subject, the Vice President, is
effectively a President running for re-election. Compare it with an attack piece
intended to see that a Vice President did not succeed his President, from the
campaign of Democrat John Kennedy against Republican Richard Nixon in 1960.
Again, the piece should also remind those who need reminding that there was
no golden age of ‘kid gloves’ in televised campaign advertising.
