NationalJournal.com's Amy Harder provides analysis of some of John McCain's most memorable TV ads and his overall advertising strategy.

NationalJournal.com's Mary Gilbert provides analysis of some of Barack Obama's most memorable TV ads and his overall advertising strategy.

Click here to watch "Celeb," the 2008 campaign's Best Advertisement.

Which ad from this campaign cycle boasts the best musical score? Who was the best supporting actor? What was the best animated spot? NationalJournal.com sifted through a seemingly endless collection of ads -- everything from the presidential campaigns to downballot races to third parties -- to pick the best of the 2008 campaign.

All ad summary pages are available to subscribers only.

Best Leading Actor

• Barack Obama For President: "American Stories, American Solutions"

Obama's overwhelming fundraising advantage allowed him to purchase 30 minutes of air time on seven networks the week of the election. But his ability to deliver a message that resonated with Americans made it worth the estimated $4 million price tag.

Best Advertisement

• John McCain For President: "Celeb"

Even though pundits dismissed this ad and scoffed at McCain for lumping Obama in with the likes of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, "Celeb" spurred McCain's summer bump in the polls and became one of the race's most talked-about ads.

Best Advertisement -- Drama

• Tom Udall For Senate: "Humbled"

This spot, featuring an Iraq war veteran who lost his ability to speak but not his profound gratitude, might just move you to tears.

Best Advertisement -- Musical

• Barack Obama For President: "Don't Know Much"

Using a new take on a classic song to mock McCain's record on the economy and his ties with President Bush, this clever spot embodies Obama's ability to hit his opponents without being perceived as an attack dog.

Runner-up:

• Nurses Organizing Committee/California Nurses Association: "One Heartbeat Away"

A song underscores McCain's health risks as the ad reminds viewers that Sarah Palin would be "one heartbeat away" from the presidency.

Best Advertisement -- Comedy

• Freedom's Watch: "Welcome to the Unofficial Dept. of Peace"

Marshaling a VW van, tie-dye and drug insinuations against Mark Udall's Senate campaign in Colorado, this ad had to crack up even the most serious pols.

Best Advertisement -- Horror

• Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund: "Brutal"

Viewers were so captivated by this environmental group's ad depicting an aerial wolf hunt that they donated thousands of dollars to keep it on the air.

Runner-up:

• John Kennedy For Senate: "Scary Mary"

Kennedy mocks his opponent, Mary Landrieu, for trying to scare voters, but we found the acting in this spot particularly terrifying.

Best Supporting Actor

• President Bush

The unpopular chief Republican made it into countless attack ads across the country. "Bush-McCain Challenge" by MoveOn.org Political Action was particularly entertaining: It used the theme song from "The Patty Duke Show" to pair up Bush and McCain in both their mannerisms and their words.

Continue reading "And The Winners Are..." »

NationalJournal.com's Mary Gilbert appeared on MSNBC Live this Saturday to discuss the presidential candidates' closing ads.

Click here to watch "Freedom."

Reviving an ad strategy not employed since July, John McCain's latest ad out Friday, "Freedom" (subscription), features images of a young McCain as a soldier -- and a prisoner of war -- to assert his own patriotism and fortitude.

"I've served my country since I was 17 years old, and spent five years longing for her shores," McCain says in the ad. "I came home dedicated to a cause greater than my own." In another shift from nearly all his recent ads, McCain stays positive, though he does sneak in an implicit jab at Barack Obama's "hope" slogan: "Don't hope for a stronger America. Vote for one."

Click here to watch "Delighted."

With his ratings at historic lows, President Bush has remained sidelined during this election season, but his No. 2, Dick Cheney, did emerge this weekend to throw his support behind John McCain. Democrats seemed more excited by this particular endorsement than Republicans, however, as it feeds into their storyline about McCain's ties to the current administration.

Barack Obama's campaign was quick with its reply, releasing a new TV spot just hours after Cheney's remarks from his home state of Wyoming.

"Delighted" (subscription) juxtaposes some of Obama's most respected backers -- billionaire businessman Warren Buffett and former Bush Secretary of State Colin Powell -- with McCain's latest supporter. Showing footage of Cheney endorsing McCain and running mate Sarah Palin, an announcer quips: "Boy, did McCain earn it. He voted with Bush and Cheney 90 percent of the time." "And that's not the change we need," he concludes.

The ad comes as both candidates ramp up their efforts in the final 24-hour push before Election Day. Obama today will hit three states that went for Bush in 2004 -- Florida, North Carolina and Virginia -- while McCain makes stops in seven different battlegrounds.

Click here to watch "Better Off."

Progressive Future, progressive advocacy group that is backing Barack Obama, is making a last-minute appeal to Reagan Democrats using none other than Ronald Reagan himself.

Their new TV spot, "Better Off" (subscription), uses footage of a famous moment in Reagan's 1980 presidential debate with Jimmy Carter to try to win over undecided voters. "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" Reagan asked in 1980. Plummeting stock prices and video footage of Osama bin Laden and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina play on screen as Reagan speaks about economic security and America's standing in the world. "If you don’t think that this course that we’ve been on for the last four years is what you would like to see us follow for the next four, then I could suggest another choice that you have," Reagan says as a photo of Obama fills the screen.

“With our economy in crisis and our soldiers still at war, Ronald Reagan’s question is as relevant today as it was in 1980,” said Progressive Future political director Brad Martin in a press release. The group cites data from Gallup that shows over 90 percent of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction. In addition to running the TV ad in Ohio and Florida, Progressive Future will spend the last 96 hours of the election on volunteer mobilization and get-out-the-vote efforts.

Click here to watch "Meghan."

The Service Employees International Union is putting nearly a half million dollars behind an ad -- running in Ohio only -- that criticizes John McCain for supporting policies that it says resulted in American jobs going overseas.

"Meghan" (subscription), started running in this pivotal battleground state Thursday. The spot features Meghan Cofield, a Dayton factor worker who saw her job move to China. The group chides McCain for supporting the North American Free Trade Act, which the SEIU asserts allows companies to receive tax benefits for exporting jobs overseas.

While both candidates have led in Ohio over the last several months, the latest polling data compiled from Pollster.com shows Barack Obama's numbers going up while McCain's trending downward.

Click here to watch "Crist."

John McCain is largely absent from three of his latest ads, which instead star two popular members of his own party -- as well as his opponent, Barack Obama.

"Crist" (subscription), released Thursday, features Florida Gov. Charlie Crist touting his support for McCain. The ad stays positive, showering the Arizona senator with praise for being a reformer dedicated to bipartisanship. "Our next president will face enormous challenges. For me, the choice is clear," Crist says. "John McCain is an American hero."

Crist's endorsement couldn't come at a more crucial time. His state, which has leaned Obama since mid-September, has been the recipient of the most ad dollars by both campaigns and the Republican National Committee. According to a new report [PDF] by the Wisconsin Advertising Project, McCain and the RNC spent almost $1.5 million in the Sunshine State for the week of Oct. 21-28, while Obama doled out a whopping $4.6 million there.

A McCain/RNC radio ad released today in Virginia, "Cuts" (subscription), features Sen. John Warner, R-Va., asserting that McCain will protect Virginia's defense industry from "Obama's liberal colleagues in Congress," who he says plan to "cut defense spending by 25 percent." Virginia, another battleground state that started trending blue in mid-September, is also among the states drawing the most ad dollars, according to the Wisconsin Advertising Project.

In addition to Crist and Warner, even McCain's opponent is unwittingly enlisted for the cause in another new ad. "Obama Praises McCain" (subscription) airs footage of the Illinois senator in January 2007 hailing McCain's "outstanding leadership" on greenhouse gas legislation.

Other recent spots released by the McCain camp and the RNC have followed this pattern. Crist previously starred in another McCain/RNC spot, "Spreading The Wealth" (subscription), as did country music star Hank Williams Jr. (subscription).

Click here to watch "Something."

Ahead in the polls and confident about his ground game, Barack Obama is making a final push with two new TV ads that encapsulate his campaign's double-edged strategy of criticizing John McCain while also trying to inspire supporters. The ad buys for these final spots are also representative of the way the campaign is playing out, with Obama pushing further and further into red territory, even McCain's home state.

"Rearview Mirror" (subscription) brings home Obama's argument on the economy and on McCain's relationship with President Bush. The spot shows a man driving a truck down the road, as an announcer asks: "Wonder where John McCain would take the economy? Look behind you." An image of Bush pops up in the rearview mirror. Signs along the road detail how McCain's policies are a direct continuation of Bush's, according to the Obama camp. Finally, the driver looks back in the mirror to see images of Bush and McCain together, as the announcer repeats the now-familiar tagline: "We can't afford more of the same."

In "Something" (subscription), on the other hand, Obama seeks to inspire viewers to become part of the movement that he has created during the course of his campaign. "Something's happening in America -- in small towns and big cities," the announcer observes as the camera pans across large, diverse crowds of Obama supporters. "People from every walk of life uniting in common purpose." The ad touts some of Obama's biggest endorsements, from Warren Buffett and Colin Powell, before showing a clip of one of his characteristically rousing speeches. "We can choose hope over fear, and unity over division, the promise of change over the power of the status quo," he says to huge applause.

The Illinois senator is releasing his new ads in three states that voted overwhelmingly for Bush in 2004 and should have been safe territory for McCain -- Georgia, North Dakota and McCain's home state of Arizona. New data released by the Wisconsin Ad Project [PDF] shows that, during the week of October 21-28, three-quarters of Obama's and McCain's advertising dollars were spent in red states, demonstrating that McCain is, in fact, playing defense.

MoveOn.org is also purchasing time in Arizona to re-air "Obamacan" (subscription), the spot that won the group's "Obama in 30 Seconds" ad contest back in May. It features Air Force veteran John Weiler, who says that although he's "been a Republican since before I could actually vote," he's supporting Obama this year.

Pollster.com shows McCain up by an average of six points in Arizona, but Democrats clearly feel the race is close enough to warrant spending some resources there.