The Year's Best Political Ads

Rick Klein awards the year's best campaign ads.

ByABC News
November 29, 2007, 7:19 PM

Dec. 11, 2007 — -- The Iowa caucuses are less than a month away -- and that means, if you live in Iowa or New Hampshire, you're already sick of seeing the presidential candidates invade your television sets.

All political ads have texts and subtexts, of course, and with the ad wars in full swing, we thought it was time for some awards

Best Use of a Lame but Very Strong Celebrity: Mike Huckabee, with his two-word plan to secure the border: Chuck Norris. Norris may be off even the rerun circuit these days -- but, hey, if Washington is Hollywood for ugly people, C-list celebrities suffice. LINK

Worst Actor Award: Fred Thompson, for his stilted, barely grammatically correct performance. Thompson "grew up in a hometown just like this"? For a veteran actor, he sure doesn't look comfortable pretending to converse with the pretend real people. Maybe he could have used another take. LINK

The Perfect, Youthful Hair Award: Our first upset -- Mitt Romney (over John Edwards), for his jogging commercial. His campaign must have resisted the temptations to superimpose pictures of his bald-pated rivals next to the healthy follicles atop the governor's glistening head. LINK

The I Have a Perfect, Youthful Family -- and I Love My First Wife Award: Romney again. Just beneath Ann Romney's bubbly demeanor, she's saying something along the lines of, hey, all those bald guys, they've been divorced at least once.LINK

Best Hair Dig in a 60-Second Spot: Chris Dodd, with the throwaway line inquiring how much his haircut cost. His barbershop series is amusing -- and it can't be an accident that he asks at the end of one of them how much haircuts run these days. Less than $400, perhaps? LINK

The Lyndon Johnson Memorial Prize for Subtlety: Tom Tancredo, for his elect-me-or-terrorists-will-blow-up-your-shopping-malls ad. Only problem: In "24," sometimes the president is the bad guy. LINK

Best Statement of the Obvious: Rudy Giuliani, saying that if you're looking for perfection, you won't find it with him. But if you're looking for 9/11, you just might. LINK