14502: BHM 2019—Republicans And Democrats Display Bipartisan Bullshit.

The GOP took heat for its Black History Month tweet. The Democrats’ inadvertent BHM message wasn’t much better.

12092: Adpeople + Politicians = Liars.

Advertising Age published a lengthy report on politics in the advertising industry. Not the politics bred via office hierarchies, but rather, GOP and Democratic affairs. The 4As and ANA are huddling with lobbyists and advisors over the implications of upcoming elections and retirements in Congress. That our industry employs lobbyists and even created a PAC says a lot about the true concerns of Madison Avenue leadership. Of course, when politicians question adfolks on diversity, the so-called leaders invoke the right to remain silent.

For Adland, Party Lines a Little Blurry Ahead of Midterm

ANA and 4A’s Court Allies on Both Sides of the Aisle

The GOP may wrest control of the Senate from the Democrats in the mid-term elections and key lawmakers are retiring or are in danger of losing their seats. But the nation’s big advertisers are keeping their cool amid the political turmoil, confident they will have the right allies in the next Congress.

Dan Jaffe, group executive VP-government relations for the Association of National Advertiser, said the possible takeover of the Senate by Republicans, a party that’s considered more business-friendly than the Democrats, is not necessarily a boon for the advertising industry because the issues important to the marketing industry don’t neatly cross party lines. And despite a couple of years of gridlock, the next Congress is expected to consider a number of issues important to advertisers, including tax inversion and deductibility, advertising of e-cigarettes and privacy concerns.

“We will be able to have our voice heard no matter what party wins,” Mr. Jaffe said.

Advertising agencies are also watching the election. Dick O’Brien, chief lobbyist for the American Association of Advertising Agencies, said Republican control of the Senate, which would occur if the GOP wins six new seats, would make it easier for Congress to pass tax legislation that would cut corporate taxes—but pay for it by curbing the deductibility of advertising expenses.

On the other hand, Mr. O’Brien said, a GOP-controlled Senate may finally approve legislation that would go after patent trolls. The House approved that legislation, but “the Democratic Senate leadership did not have the heart to do it,” Mr. O’Brien said.

But, like Mr. Jaffe, Mr. O’Brien is confident his industry will be able to handle the political changes the new Congress will bring.

“No matter which way it goes we will have a game plan, it just will be a different game plan,” he said.

That doesn’t mean the advertisers and agencies aren’t closely watching the mid-term elections and certain races.

One key race is the one Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., is waging against Republican challenger Tom Cotton.

Mr. Pryor “is someone we’ve worked closely with and he is someone we have been very supportive of,” Mr. Jaffe said.

Mr. Pryor, considered one of the most vulnerable Senate incumbent, has been a proponent of self-regulation when it comes to privacy and advertising to children and has said his “door is always open” to advertising concerns.

Even before voters cast a single vote, congressional retirements mean key committees will have new chairmen in the next Congress.

The retirement of Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., means a big proponent of consumer privacy will no longer be in a position to worry the industry. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., whose views on issues important to advertisers are largely unknown, is likely to pick up the gavel.

But if Mr. Pryor manages to keep his seat he also has a shot at heading this powerful committee with jurisdiction over many issues important to advertisers.

The retirement of Ways and Means Chairman David Camp, R-Mich., who proposed ending the full tax deductibility of advertising expenses, may also seem like a relief to the industry.

But Mr. Camp’s likely successor, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has disappointed advertisers by saying he’d keep that idea on the table when Congress makes another attempt to overhaul the tax code next year.

The retirement of Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, a proponent of tough food advertising regulations, as chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee is also viewed as a boon to the industry.

But he may be replaced by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who “is certainly someone who prides himself on taking a highly liberal take on regulatory issues,” Mr. Jaffe said.

Republicans are expected to keep control of the House after the Nov. 4 midterm elections. But there will be a lot of churning in that chamber anyway due to the GOP’s self-imposed limit, adopted in 1994, on how long a Republican congressman can chair a committee.

If the Senate flips to the GOP, all Senate chairmanships will change.

That means Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, could take control of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over tax issues.

Mr. Hatch is sympathetic to business concerns and a strong defender of the First Amendment. But he’s also a Mormon, a religion that shuns alcohol and tobacco—and those industries are concerned the lawmaker may not be an ally.

A GOP win would also make Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the head of the HELP Committee.

“We know very little about him, but he’s a very reasonable and balanced individual,” Mr. Jaffe said.

Mr. O’Brien is also the treasurer of the Professionals in Advertising PAC, or Pro-Ad PAC, that was created in 1988 to boost the political clout of the industry.

But the PAC had less than $70,000 in cash-on-hand at the end of August and has contributed to just a handful of lawmakers this year.

Mr. O’Brien said “we’re sort of husbanding our funds at the moment,” but will soon gear up its spending to reward the industry’s friends in Congress.

10929: Presenting The 44th POTUS.

10807: Seeking Binders Of Women.

From The Chicago Tribune…

A woman’s place is in the House

Where are those binders full of women when you need them? The Republican Party could sure use a few.

This week, Republicans in the U.S. House approved a slate of 19 committee chairmen chosen by a GOP steering committee. White males, every one.

They’re all fine statesmen, we’re sure. All eminently qualified. But come on. We thought one lesson of the 2012 election was that Republicans could stand to work a little harder at that whole diversity thing.

The House power lineup is especially glaring because the number of female members will be at all-time highs in both chambers of the 113th Congress: 81 women in the House, 20 in the Senate.

Over in the Senate, the sisterhood has been feeling downright giddy about those numbers.

Two weeks ago, during a new-member orientation, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., tweeted about “our first-ever in U.S. history traffic jam in women senators’ restroom. #somerecordsmustbebroken.” She later explained that there were five senators in there, and only two stalls.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., tweeted about a “power meeting” with newly elected Massachusetts Democrat Elizabeth Warren and Nebraska Republican Deb Fischer in the same setting. “Gonna need a bigger bathroom,” McCaskill quipped.

The problem for Republicans in both chambers is that most of the women are Democrats. Roughly 90 percent of the House Republican caucus is white male. Most of the GOP women lack seniority, a big factor in committee leadership calculus. The 113th House actually will have fewer Republican women than the 112th.

House Speaker John Boehner is being lobbied hard to appoint women to chair two remaining committees: the Ethics Committee and the Committee on House Administration. Those are lesser assignments, not subject to a steering committee vote, and there currently are no GOP women on either committee.

Democrats don’t seem to have so much trouble finding qualified women: Recall that when they held the House, a woman was speaker. At least five Democratic women are expected to be named ranking committee members in the House; those are the members who, if their party was in power, would likely be the chairs. Women are expected to chair as many as seven committees in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

That happened in part because Democrats made it their business to recruit strong female candidates. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who chaired the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, says women were central to the party’s strategy to hold on to its majority in that chamber.

Note to Republicans: It’s on you to diversify your ranks. A little less emphasis on seniority — can you say “good old boy”? — could help get things moving. But it’s hard to find women for your leadership team when there are so few of them in Congress to begin with.

Ever wonder why Mitt Romney’s “binders full of women” remark in the second presidential debate rubbed so many women the wrong way?

His point was that as governor of Massachusetts, he had gone the extra mile to find qualified women to serve in his Cabinet after noting that all the candidates were men. “I went to a number of women’s groups and said, ‘Can you help us find folks?’ and they brought us whole binders full of women,” he said.

The problem is that after decades in business, Romney didn’t already have his own list of capable female candidates. Neither does Boehner, apparently. He needs to get cracking on that.

Fun fact: One of Boehner’s first actions as speaker was to order a new women’s bathroom built steps from the House floor. Before that, female representatives had to exit the chamber and hike through Statuary Hall to get to the restroom — a 10-minute round trip — while men barely had to leave their seats. “Love the new ladies room off the floor of the House,” tweeted Rep. Donna Edwards, D-Md. “Three cheers to @SpeakerBoehner.”

Parliamentarian John Sullivan, whose office was moved to make space for the new restroom, didn’t object. “I know one day the House will be half women,” he told a Politico reporter. If the Republicans know what’s good for them, they’ll get some more estrogen on their side of the aisle.

10800: President Obama’s House Guest.

Top Ten Things Obama Told Romney At The White House

How’s that “I’ll Create Jobs” stuff working out for you?

Most people go to Disneyland after they’ve won something.

You spent nearly $780 million to get beat by a Black guy being blamed for the worst economic crisis in modern history—and you thought you could bring fiscal responsibility to the country?

No, you may not stand on the presidential seal.

The 47% have spoken.

Want a Cabinet position? How about Secretary of Ass-Whupped?

You’ll be the second biggest thing to vanish in 2012—right after Twinkies.

I took you out like I took out Bin Laden.

Now Clint Eastwood will act like you’re invisible.

Somebody cue up “Home” already.

10701: The 44th President.

10695: Take America Back…Or Forward?

The image above was created by Lowell Thompson, who continues to express his viewpoints with revolutionary flair. The unabridged version of the message can be experienced here and should preferably be read before heading to the voting booths on Tuesday.

10689: Empower Citizens Nutwork.

From Talking Points Memo…

Late Super PAC Ad Buy Urges African Americans In Ohio To Vote Republican Because Lincoln Freed The Slaves

By Evan McMorris-Santoro

In the final days of the campaign in Ohio, the stops have been pulled out in the scramble to eke out a win. And that means one super PAC calling on African Americans to vote against President Obama because Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves.

Cable viewers in several markets across the state are being treated to ads by an obscure self-described “alternative conservative” super PAC called the Empower Citizens Network. One of the group’s ads accuses Obama and Democrats of imploding the economy by forcing mortgage companies to lend to “unqualified borrowers” while the Soviet national anthem plays. Another promises welfare recipients that “Republicans can save your money source” by reducing regulations on business.

And then there’s the ad which one viewer told TPM is airing in the Columbus area on cable. Our source caught it a couple of times on MSNBC. That ad is the Empower Citizens Network spot that tells African Americans it’s a “lie” that Democrats support them and cites the Emancipation Proclamation as evidence.

Details on Empower Citizens Network are sketchy. It was formed in June, according to its FEC filing, but its quarterly filings in July and October showed the group had neither raised nor spent any money. FEC filings made by the group last week (here and here) show it spending about $98,000 on campaign advertising in Ohio, mostly for newspaper ads.

Documents filed by the group with Time Warner Cable in Ohio identified Akron-area financial planner Bob Warther as the point of contact for Empower Citizens Network. Warther is listed as the group’s treasurer in FEC filings (although it is spelled “Walther” in one letter to the FEC that he signed). Warther’s office referred questions about the super PAC to Lance Davis at Akron-based Universal Marketing Industries. Davis did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The newspaper ad taken out by Empower Citizens Network was similarly over-the-top, as described by the Toledo Blade:

Among the claims made by the ad is that the Obamas throw lavish parties at the White House for “socialist friends” that include flying in $100-per-pound Kobe beef from Japan; the President’s $800 billion stimulus did not produce any net jobs, and that “this deep recession was not caused by the Bush tax cuts, Republican lax regulation, or Wall Street greed.”

Empower Citizens Network’s TV ad is one of a group that have emerged on the scene in the closing days of the election in Ohio, according to Kathy Kiley, who studies political ad buys at the Sunlight Foundation.

“They’re a late spender, part of the October Surprise Club,” she said. Public records on file with Time Warner show all of Empower Citizens Network’s ad buys have been placed to cover the last week of the election.

The Empower Citizens Network ad uses some old Republican rhetoric to try and earn African American support for the GOP. “Republicans passed the Civil Rights Act while Democrats opposed it,” the narrator says at one point in the Empower Citizens Network ad.

Many African American Republicans will say their party still hasn’t figured out how to expand its support among black voters. John Sununu, a prominent surrogate for Mitt Romney, recently posited the Colin Powell only endorsed Obama because he’s black. In Florida, a move by the Republican-led state government to eliminate early voting on the Sunday before Election Day was seen by African American churches as aimed squarely at them.

Smaller ad buys targeted at African Americans by Republicans are not only limited to Empower Citizens Network. A super PAC named Pivot Point put an ad on BET in Cleveland and Seattle this month featuring an African American calling Obama’s support for same-sex marriage “a slap in the face.”

Polls show African American voters have yet to be convinced the GOP is the party for them. The PollTracker Average shows Obama leading Mitt Romney by a margin of 92 to 5.5 among African American voters. African Americans voters are overwhelmingly registered Democratic, a split that’s held for decades.

10669: Campaign With The Obama SuperPac.

As the presidential election draws near, now is a great time to visit the Obama SuperPac and see how Harry Webber and his friends have progressed. Wonder what they might think of Carl Warner’s crusade.

10644: Celebrity Political Spokesmen.

I’ll see your Clint Eastwood and raise you Samuel L. Jackson and Morgan Freeman.

10526: Most Interesting Endorsement.

From The New York Daily News…

Beer ad’s ‘most interesting man in the world’ to fundraise for Obama in Vermont

The ‘most powerful man in the world’ now boasts an endorsement from ‘the most interesting man in the world.’ Actor Jonathan Goldsmith, who portrays that formidable beer lover in TV ads for Dos Equis, is headlining an Obama fundraiser in Vermont next week.

By Kristen A. Lee / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

President Obama can now boast the endorsement of “the most interesting man in the world.”

Jonathan Goldsmith, the bearded actor who plays that formidable character in commercials for Dos Equis beer, is headlining an Obama fundraiser in Vermont next week.

Goldsmith has developed a cult following for the beer ads, which feature his character performing a variety of outlandishly impressive feats: swordfighting two men at once, rescuing a bear from a steel trap, diving for sunken treasure and flirting with a series of beautiful women.

"Mosquitos refuse to bite him, purely out of respect,” one ad claims. “He is the most interesting man in the world.”

His catchphrase is: “Stay thirsty, my friends.”

Obama has recently become known as a bit of a beer lover himself.

His recent campaign appearances have included stops at local watering holes across the country, where he’ll share a beer with patrons as he makes his pitch for a second term.

The president also revealed that the White House even makes its own home brew.

But despite his apparent appreciation for the adult beverage, Obama will be at a higher-profile $40,000 a plate fundraiser with Beyonce and Jay-Z in New York City on the day of the Dos Equis pitchman’s event.

Tickets for Goldsmith’s Burlington fundraiser on Tuesday start at just $20. The actor will be joined by Shap Smith, the Democratic speaker of the Vermont House.

10491: ‘Most Diverse’ DNC Convention Ever.

From The Huffington Post…

Antonio Villaraigosa DNC Speech Calls Convention ‘Most Diverse’ In US History

The Mayor of Los Angeles said Thursday that this year’s Democratic National Convention is the most diverse, inclusive convention in the country’s history.

“Look around you, everyone! This has been the most diverse, most inclusive convention ever held anywhere in the United States of America!” Antonio Villaraigosa, who is also chairman of the convention, said as delegates stood and applauded.

Right away, he cheered the Democratic Party’s support of gay marriage. “This is the first time that a major party platform recognizes marriage equality as a basic human right!” he said, pounding his fist.

During his Wednesday convention speech, former President Bill Clinton said that what he called “we’re all in this together” governing creates more jobs and wealth for all than “you’re on your own” governing does. Making the social equivalent of Clinton’s economic statement, Villaraigosa told delegates that diversity and inclusion is better for everyone. “Whenever we’ve opened up our party and our country, whenever we’ve opened up doors for more of our people, whenever we’ve deepened our democracy and renewed our commitment to equal justice under the law, we’ve grown stronger as a nation,” he said.

Villaraigosa said President Barack Obama “fought for the woman who deserves health care” and “for the DREAMers, young people brought here by no fault of their own.” Meanwhile, he said Republicans “plan to deny a woman control over the basic decisions that affect her health.” Regarding DREAMers, “Governor Romney wants to make their lives so miserable, so oppressive, so intolerable that they would leave behind the life they’ve built and ‘self-deport.’ How ‘bout that for family values!,” the Mayor said.

Accusing the GOP of disregarding facts last week in Tampa, Villaraigosa joked, “I have to say that when it comes to entertainment, to great stories and tall tales, the Republican Convention gave Hollywood a run for their money.”

He went on to criticize the Republicans’ plan to further cut taxes for millionaires and turn Medicare into a system of “coupons.”

Villaraigosa ended with the story of his grandfather moving from Mexico to Boyle Heights, a low-income Los Angeles neighborhood, and how the American dream enabled the Mayor to rise out of poverty.

As Villaraigosa continues to gain national notoriety, speculation about his future after he terms out as mayor in June ranges from an Obama administration appointment—possibly as Secretary of Transportation—to running for California governor or for president in 2016. The Mayor has dismissed these speculations.

10489: Accepting Nominations And Responsibility.

“Our challenges can be met.”

“We have no intention of downsizing the American Dream.”

10486: First Lady Delivers.

See it here.

10277: “Mitt Is Not It.”

The Obama Super Pac keeps moving forward with Obama Raps.

10197: The Presidential Race And Race.

From The New York Daily News…

The silent issue that could doom President Obama in 2012 election

Unlike 2008, race works against President this time in a big way

By Mike Lupica, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

There will be so many things to talk about with Obama vs. Romney from here to November, but the one that nobody will want to talk about very much in polite society, even in what has a chance to be the meanest presidential campaign for all times, is race.

It works against the President this time, in a big way.

Last time, there were just weren’t enough reasons for enough white voters to vote against the black guy, as much as they wanted to. This time there are plenty. And please don’t believe a single poll on this issue.

If there is one great truth about polling in this country, at least when it comes to race, is that people lie through their teeth. Mostly because they don’t want to look like some lousy, scummy bigot — even talking to an anonymous voice on the telephone.

Of course this election will be about the economy, and Obama’s record on it, no matter how much broad-daylight looting of this country went on during the eight years of Bush-Cheney.

You want to know why George W. Bush is still the only living former President with an approval rating under 50%? It isn’t just because of all the Americans killed and wounded in a war built on lies in Iraq. It is also because of the economy Obama inherited from him, one nobody wanted to touch with a stick at the time.

Oh, Obama ran against the Bush economy once. But won’t be able to do it again, even though he’s sure going to try. He has to run on his own record this time, on the economy, on jobs. Does Romney have a better plan? He does not. His plan, his platform — and the reason Obama is in huge trouble against him — is as simple as Romney sounds sometimes on the stump:

He’s not Barack Obama in 2012 the way Obama wasn’t Bush in 2008.

“There has only been one real plan from the Republicans, really for the last four years,” Mario Cuomo says. “Get rid of Obama. That’s it. Now they try to convince you that whomever you replace him with will be better, even though that should be an absurdly childish and stupid and perhaps even greedy notion.”

Still: This isn’t ’08 for Obama.

It means he’s not only NOT running against Bush, he is not running against old John McCain, a terrible candidate, or Sarah Palin.

When it was over four years ago, even people who didn’t want to vote for a black presidential candidate — but did in the end — congratulated themselves on America finally putting a black man in the White House.

It won’t work that way this time. Race won’t be the only issue, not in a world of these gas prices, not in an America with this kind of unemployment. But you better believe it will be a huge issue.

Two things that nobody will want to talk about so much in the months between now and November? Race and Romney’s religion.

But race wins that one every time, first-round knockout, just because race is always the main event in America, no matter how enlightened we like to think we are.

“You know what race does in this election?” an old Kennedy Democrat I know is saying on Thursday. “It takes Mormonism off the board. Gone, goodbye. So there’s that. And here’s something else that works against the President. Romney’s not picking a bad vice-president. His pick might not be very exciting. But it’s not going to be Palin.”

Suddenly Barack Obama, four years later, is an underdog all over again. It is what he was when he took on Hillary Clinton, took on the Clinton machine, in the Democratic primary season of ’08. It is what he is against Romney right now, will be in the fall unless the economy comes back big.

Maybe he thinks that Romney’s record at Bain Capital can save him, maybe he can rally his base in an election against a poster boy for the 1 percenters in this country like Mitt Romney, whose idea of being a regular guy in a debate is making a $10,000 bet with Rick Perry. And maybe he can save himself in the debates and with speeches, because this is a President who has told people more than once, “Speeches got me here.”

Obama got a perfect storm last time: Bush and Cheney and Iraq and the economy crashing and McCain and the lightweight former governor of Alaska. He got people of color and he got kids. Except now the kids that he needs are coming out of college and can’t find jobs.

There were so many reasons to vote for Barack Obama, not nearly enough good reasons not to vote against the first black candidate for President. Not this time.

10054: This Year, Obama Killed Kimmel.

Anybody else think President Barack Obama outperformed Jimmy Kimmel at the 2012 White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner?

9853: Bo Knows Campaigning.

Courting the Black dog vote.

9656: The Obama Super Pac.

Hype for the Obama Super Pac reads:

The Obama Super Pac is not a Political Action Committee. We are a Presidential Advertising Committee. Our agenda is not complex. We exist to create powerful advertising messages in support of the re-election of President Barack Obama. We are making these ads available to anyone to distribute.

Learn more at the website or Facebook.

7332: Fiddy, Filibuster And F-Word.

Tuesday talk in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• 50 Cent said he wants to team up with Susan Boyle. “Susan Boyle is hot right now. I got to get her on a track, for real. We’d make a hit,” said Fiddy. “She’s got an amazing voice, and together we’d get everyone dancing.” The rapper even wants to hang out with Boyle. “I’d love to take her clubbing, show her around my world. She’d have a great time.” Just keep her away from Tiger Woods.

• Senate Majority Leader Henry Reid compared GOP leaders trying to halt President Obama’s health care plan to past politicians who sought to delay slavery and other movements for equality. “Instead of joining us on the right side of history, all Republicans have come up with is this, ‘Slow down, stop everything, let’s start over,’” said Reid. “You think you’ve heard these same excuses before? You’re right. When this country belatedly recognized the wrongs of slavery, there were those who dug in their heels and said, ‘Slow down, it’s too early. Let’s wait. Things aren’t bad enough.’ When women spoke up for the right to speak up, they wanted to vote, some insisted, ‘Slow down, there will be a better day to do that. The day isn’t quite right.’ When this body was on the verge of guaranteeing equal civil rights to everyone, regardless of the color of their skin, some senators resorted to the same filibuster threats that we hear today.” Yeah, but the typical Madison Avenue executives make GOP leaders look like amateurs.

• A transgender teen in Florida is suing McDonald’s for allegedly refusing to interview her for a job. One manager even left the student a voicemail stating, “We do not hire faggots.” Nice. Shouldn’t the manager have added, “Would you like some fries with that?”