She calls herself the “Vice Sister,” but to Joe Biden and dozens of Democratic politicians, Valerie Biden Owens is the chairman of the board of Mad Men able to take down opponents with a simple TV spot. And now the ad executive with a 77.7 percent, four year success record with Joe Slade White & Co. is dishing hints on how President Obama might take down GOP front-runner Mitt Romney in the fall.
First, hit his wealth and suggest he’s out of touch with the nation, a theme Vice President Biden tapped last week. Talking politics at a George Washington University conference Wednesday she told of beating wealthy Amway exec Dick DeVos in the 2006 Michigan gubernatorial election with an ad attacking him for investing in overseas jobs. “Where did he invest his money? Cayman Islands.” Romney has been rapped by his GOP foes for having Cayman accounts. He’s also bragged of knowing billionaire sports team owners and Owens said they top the list of those “collectively despised” by Americans.
Next, turn the focus of TV ads on the voter, not the candidate. Forget the ads that give a laundry list of why an opponent stinks. Instead, touch a voter’s heart. “What a spot should do is translate the campaign into emotion,” said Owens. “Appeal to the voters’ hearts as well as their minds,” she said. Compassion also works, though she hasn’t seen it in the GOP primaries. “We appeal to the better angels and the better instincts of human nature which has been sorely missing in our American political system, especially during this primary season.”
And use humor. “There’s nothing more deadly than being laughed at.”
Finally, wait to fire the silver bullet TV ad. “You have to remember, when you start to kill the monster that he can’t get back up and kill you in the last week,” she said.
