You be the judge – the commercials are embedded below.

Interesting side note: Kinsella references the “Daisy + Nuclear Apocalypse” ad that won Johnson his second term as president in 1964, as an example of an ad that surfaces voters fears and points them in a voting direction without badgering them with political messaging. Here it is, courtesy of YouTube:

5 stars out of 5 – Commercial One: I think this one is right on target, great messaging, if delivered a bit solemnly.

1/5 – Commercial Two: Michael Ignatieff is back in Canada mainly to eat your children, right after he forms an evil coalition government:

4/5 – Commercial Three: Great messaging – higher spending, higher taxes, higher prices. Nice. Though arguably our current deficit fits nicely under the “higher spending” banner:

1/5 – Commercial Four: That mean spirited Ignatieff! What a jerk! Personally, I’d probably be appalled at things I said 20 years ago too.

If you haven’t had enough yet, there’s two more here.

• “New centers for preschoolers, infants, and toddlers, with three teachers per classroom…” (Good ideas here)
• “Empower Joy Hakim to write from scratch standardized tests for all the subject areas and grade levels…” (Sounds like an interesting book, but a bit of a stretch to make an author into policy)
• “Focus on the arts — music and visual arts and dance, all the things that make kids joyful. Kids need a reason to come to school, and testing is not a good reason…” (Ummm…)
• “What’s missing is more time for parents and teachers to meet…” (Not sure that this will fix parental apathy)
• “Saturday academic program for struggling students…” (That’s more like it.)
• “Establish urban think tanks for teachers — a dedicated space to think about public education and how to change it…” (Too warm and fuzzy for me)
• “Schools should be looking at the kids and parents as the customers they’re serving…” (They’re not doing this already?)

…and there’s 5 more too.

Could one secret to Creigh Deeds’ stunning triumph over his better-known and better-funded opponents Terry McAuliffe and Jim Moran in yesterday’s Democratic gubernatorial primary in Virginia have been a tactical Google ad buy aimed at voters in that state’s Washington DC suburbs? As the dust settles from Deeds’ stunning demolition of his opponents in yesterday’s contest, Google is suggesting that a savvy online ad strategy helped to push the rural Virginian ahead of his northern Virginian opponents. [Tech President]

[Terry McAuliffe] found that a strong online organizing effort only works if you’re selling something that enough people want to buy. [Tech President]

I’m new to the CPC, and don’t particularly understand the mechanics of, for example, our online media strategy. For instance: why are we not messaging against the keywords “election” and “Canada” on Google?

Right now, the CPC has a chance to seize & fortify the technological high ground, and reap the benefits of one-on-one engagement, hyper-targeted personal messaging, and unparalleled feedback loops.

For example, our Prime Minesterial Twitter account reads like a catalog of press releases. Compare & contrast with Obama’s:

Obama: The fight for real health care reform begins in your neighborhood June 6. Attend a kickoff event… [link]

Harper: Meeting with President of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick.

Obama: President Obama needs you to tell Congress why health care reform can’t wait [link]

Harper: Announced major extension of the Calgary Ring Road.

Each tweet from Obama is a point of personal engagement (Sign Sotomayor’s cast!) or a call to action (contact your representative about healthcare!). Ours are dry, informational factoids that while effective in communicating are not effective in engaging.

Whether or not another election is imminent, now is the time to create a CPC strategy that leverages the new means available to not just speak to, but connect with voters. How does one go about being a part of something like this?

True conservatives balk at things such as government subsidized housing or loan guarantees to the auto sector. But Canada’s right has already tried a purist conservative party — it was called the Reform party and it kept losing elections. Party members voted to inter it and build a broader electoral coalition, making the strategic choice to moderate policy in return for a chance at power. [Ezra Levant, NP]

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get on with the mission of making conservatism the most relevant & effective policy foundation for Canada.