Safe. That’s the title of Sen. John McCain’s new TV ad, the first of the general election season that informally began when Sen. Barack Obama clinched the Democratic nomination on Tuesday night.

With no small amount of patriotism, and referencing his family’s long history of military service, John McCain insists that he, more than anyone, understands the terrible costs of war - and is running for President to keep Americans safe.

Follow the jump for another recent John McCain TV ad campaign, this one a full 60 seconds long and even more detailed …

Continue reading this article …

Politicians are known for talking out of both sides of their mouths, and the 2008 race for the Democratic presidential nomination has exemplified this - especially lately. See this terrific SNL campaign parody below …

“I deserve it.”

Just kidding. He didn’t make one of his Iran-style missteps.

But when a Republican campaigns on an environmental issue, it makes news. To that effect, John McCain signaled a split with both the Bush administration and environmentalists in a major global warming speech today.

The Arizona Senator and presidential nominee declares climate change undeniable and urgent, saying that the U.S. hasn’t acted quickly enough.

George W. Bush famously refused to sign the Kyoto global warming accord. McCain pledges to return America to international negotiations.

In the new campaign ad below, which he will begin airing this week, McCain places himself between what he describes as two warring factions on climate change. He paints it not only as an environmental issue, but a national security problem.

John McCain says he would set limits on greenhouse gases and allow the sale of rights of excess emissions - known as a cap and trade system.

Continue reading this article …

We love political cartoons, and here’s a recent creation by Bill Mitchell, a former newspaper cartoonist who’s long since abandoned print media for the online world (gotta love animated GIFs), and who shares his efforts with CNN.

Here’s his take on the “red phone” or “3 a.m.” ad run by Hillary Clinton ahead of the Ohio and Texas primaries that caused such a stir. Playing on our worst fears, Clinton implied that you want her, not Barack Obama, answering that phone!

Well, Mitchell says it’s not an international crisis likely to make that phone ring, but rather a gaffe by Michelle Obama or an, um… “incident” with Bill Clinton.

Whose red phone do you think is ringing at 3 a.m.?

Source: Click here. Bill Mitchell archive: Click here.

Call it ethically questionable or politically brilliant, but the results were obvious. Hillary Clinton’s last-ditch fear-mongering - also known as the “red phone” or “3 a.m” ad - helped deliver huge wins in the Ohio and Texas primaries.

The controversial Clinton commercial featured sleeping children and asked voters to decide who they want protecting them -  implying not so subtly that Obama is an unknown commodity and that only Hillary will keep them safe.

Well, it turns out that footage is nearly a decade old, and one of those darling, sleeping kids - now 17 - is a huge Barack Obama supporter.

Casey Knowles, a Barack Obama volunteer in Washington State, was filmed eight years ago when she was working as a TV extra.

It is not clear what the material featuring Knowles was originally shot for, but Getty Images owns the footage and can do with it as it pleases.

Knowles, who turns 18 in April, told a Seattle TV station that she is for Obama all the way: “It’s really sort of ironic that my image would be used to advocate for Hillary Clinton when I myself do not.”

Hard to argue with that.

In other news, Obama won the Wyoming caucuses Saturday, giving him a modest boost in the historic and tight race for the Democratic nomination.

The win in the nation’s least-populated state is hardly seen as a turning point, but every race counts, and Obama’s delegate lead is still pushing 100.

A Clinton spokesman responded that these results mean nothing, and that she had actually been planning on losing to Barack Obama by a margin of 61-38 percent in Wyoming during each of her amazing 35 years of experience.

Just kidding. Mostly.

The Clinton Machine is pulling out all the stops.

In an interview on 60 Minutes, Hillary Clinton expresses ambivalence when asked about the false smears attacking Barack Obama’s faith.

“As far as I know,” the rumors of Barack Obama being a Muslim are baseless, she says, and she “takes him at his word” that he isn’t.

Far from an emphatic denial, Hill. Why denounce the kind of dirty attacks that clearly benefit you, right? In fact, why not dump gasoline on the fire!

Check it out …

This recent Clinton campaign spot is also pretty shameless, preying on raw fear and implying that Barack Obama, frankly, is such an unknown commodity that he can’t be trusted to keep your children safe at 3 a.m. Watch …

If the March 4 primaries are to be the last stand for the Clinton Machine (which we doubt), they certainly have no intention of going quietly. Or with class.

Sorry, that was too easy.

Sen. Barack Obama is known for his star-studded following (and a couple of music videos featuring his growing list of celebrity supporters), but the resilient Sen. Hillary Clinton is no slouch in terms of star power herself.

Last night, Eva Longoria Parker cheered on Democratic presidential hopeful  at a town hall meeting in Austin, Tex., on the eve of the state’s primary.

“Hillary Clinton has proven she has the strength and experience to deliver the change we need,” the Desperate Housewives star, a Texas native, said.

Also, here’s a clever ad spot featuring Jack Nicholson, another Clinton supporter, which began airing recently in an effort to boost Hillary’s campaign …

The creator of the YouTube video that paints Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) as a 1984-esque “Big Sister” has not yet been identified.

But earlier this month, Computer World reports, the creator told a blogger the idea came after a campaign contribution quarrel between Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Hollywood producer David Geffen.

Clinton, the 2008 Democratic frontrunner, meanwhile, has downplayed the video, even calling it a “small favor.”

Widely dubbed the “Hilary 1984” video, the remix uses Apple Inc.’s classic MacIntosh introduction ad, which ran only once on TV - during the Super Bowl 23 years ago.

The “1984″ ad (which can be viewed by following the link above), replaces the droning Big Brother of the original with images and words of Hillary Clinton. Although the clip ends with a rainbow-colored logo for the Obama presidential campaign and its Website URL, Obama has denied any connection with the ad.

According to YouTube, someone identified as ParkRidge47 first posted the video. His/her profile claims that he/she is a 59-year-old American.

Within days of the video appearing on YouTube two weeks ago, Micah Sifrey, co-creator of Tech President, a blog covering how the candidates in the 2008 presidential race are using the Internet, had written an e-mail to, and received a response from, ParkRidge47.

“A friend suggested the idea after reading a New York Times article about the Clinton’s campaign bullying of donors and political operatives after the Geffen dustup,” ParkRidge47 wrote to Sifrey on March 7. “I don’t want to say more than that. I’d prefer to let it speak for itself.”

ParkRidge47’s username is a clever play on Hillary Clinton and her background; born in 1947, she grew up in Park Ridge, Ill.

Yesterday, Hillary Clinton spoke publicly for the first time about the viral video, which pundits are calling the first instance of an Internet-based anonymous attack ad of its kind.

“I haven’t seen it, but I’m pleased that it seems to be taking attention away from what used to be on YouTube and getting a lot of hits, namely me singing ‘The Star Spangled Banner,’” Clinton told New York’s NY1 News yesterday in an interview.

“I thank heaven for small favors, and the attention has shifted, and now maybe people won’t have to tune in and hear me screeching.”

You’ve gotta hand it to her for the spin job. George Stephanopoulos would be proud. The YouTube video has now been viewed over 2.1 million times.

Americans have always been notorious for dirty presidential campaigns. In the YouTube generation, we’re hitting new highs.

Or lows. Either way, it’s certainly interesting when you come across an ad blasting Hillary Clinton made specifically for its online buzz.

According to the Boston Herald, a remake of the 1984 Super Bowl Macintosh advertisement (directed by Ridley Scott) has been uploaded to YouTube and features Hillary Rodham Clinton as a tyrannical, Orwellian figure.

The video, which has already been viewed 1,050,000 times, features a tinged close-up of Hillary Clinton’s face across a cinema screen, addressing legions of obedient minions.

That is, until a young female, sporting an iPod and wearing a tank top promoting rival presidential hopeful, Barack Obama, throws a sledgehammer at the screen, smashing Hillary’s face. Play the ad below:

Crazy stuff. As we’re sure you noticed, this thought-provoking social commentary is followed immediately by these words:

“On January 14, the Democratic primary will begin. And you’ll see why 2008 won’t be like 1984.”

Although this is followed by the address for the official site of the Barack Obama campaign, his camp has publicly distanced itself from the video.

Sites such as YouTube provide ordinary voters with a chance to share their views and become involved in the political process. Tobe Berkovitz, associate dean at Boston University’s college of communication was quoted as saying:

“It’s a free-for-all. There’s going to be campaigning going on that almost no one has any control over. At this point, anyone that gets caught doing this stuff is in for more trouble than it’s worth.”

What do you think? Is this more trouble than it’s worth? Or something that should have been done a long time ago? Here’s hoping for more… and some retalliation. That would make for an interesting Democratic race.