Former governor Pete Wilson of California (right) appeared yesterday in Santa Monica with Rudy Giuliani to announce his support of the former New York mayor's presidential bid.
(J. EMILIO FLORES/GETTY IMAGES)
Campaign Notebook
Ad produced by college student is pick of Romney campaign
Former governor Pete Wilson of California (right) appeared yesterday in Santa Monica with Rudy Giuliani to announce his support of the former New York mayor's presidential bid.
(J. EMILIO FLORES/GETTY IMAGES)
And the winner is . . .
"Ready for Action," created by Ryan Whitaker, a 23-year-old college student from Provo, Utah, was picked yesterday by Mitt Romney's camp to be the first amateur-produced TV ad to be aired by a presidential campaign.
In the 60-second spot, Romney speaks about the campaign's themes of strength, innovation, and experience, as a montage of related images appears. It will air once a day in five media markets in Iowa and New Hampshire in the week starting Wednesday, the Romney campaign announced.
There were 129 submissions, the nine finalists were unveiled Tuesday, and online voting ended at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday. The campaign said Whitaker's ad was the clear favorite, getting 47 percent of the vote.
A spoof entry, however, also drew some buzz. Slate.com borrowed from "Band of Brothers," the acclaimed series about World War II, to skewer Romney over a comment he made last month in Iowa when an antiwar activist asked why his five sons - who are in their mid-20s to mid-30s - had not enlisted in the military.
"One of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping me get elected because they think I'd be a great president," Romney replied.
The Slate ad showed the sons playing golf, riding a campaign bus across Iowa, and ruminating about fireflies.
FOON RHEE
Top four skip GOP debate
BALTIMORE - The top four Republican presidential candidates skipped last night's debate on minority issues, setting off a debate over whether the GOP is paying enough attention to blacks and Hispanics.Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Fred Thompson cited scheduling conflicts in saying they could not attend the debate at Morgan State University, a historically black college.
The forum, moderated by talk-show host Tavis Smiley and featuring black and Hispanic journalists as panelists, aired live on PBS.
Among the Republicans who have criticized the candidates for skipping the forum are former House speaker Newt Gingrich and former lieutenant governor Michael Steele of Maryland, the first black official elected statewide.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
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