Muckraker: Grist on Politics

Politico surveyed both Democratic and Republican political operatives about the most ridiculous ads of this campaign season. Several of the worst were on the theme of gas prices, including this one, for Republican Bill Cassidy, who is running for the House seat in the 6th district of Louisiana.

The ad features his wife pull-starting a generator (for no apparent reason), and then Cassidy delivers a pro-drilling speech while decked out in a poncho and standing under an umbrella in the middle of a rainstorm:

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Democratic Senate candidate Jim Slattery of Kansas (whom we interviewed a few months ago) also had an ad bemoaning “ridiculous gas prices” that features voters getting whizzed upon by legislators who are in the pocket of big business. It’s eventually revealed that they’re merely getting doused with gasoline, but that doesn’t make the ad any less bizarre. Watch for yourself:

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This winner from Harri Anne Smith, a Republican running for Congress in the 2nd district of Alabama, argues that “It’s about time those billionaire Middle Eastern sheiks show us some gratitude by lowering their oil prices.”

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And this really has no eco-connection, but it’s perhaps the strangest political ad I’ve ever seen. It features Diane Benson, a Democrat running for Alaska’s at-large House seat, hugging dogs and scooping poop:

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