During an election season, this is the time of year when we begin to brace ourselves for the onslaught of campaign ads. So often they are snide, mean-spirited, divisive and misleading. Yet, every so often a candidate will release an ad that is so refreshingly honest and novel that it has to be roundly cheered. Progressive mayoral candidate Brett Smiley running against four other Democratic candidates in Providence, Rhode Island, has turned heads with just such an ad. Watch below the fold.
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Behold Brett Smiley's Man with a Plan campaign ad.
For those of you unable to watch the video, I've transcribed it along with a description of the video in italics.
Brett Smiley: I'm the kind of guy who's always finished whatever I started.
Brett in fifth grade, presenting a detailed plan for improving recess time.
Mother Smiley: Brett planned the best vacation we've ever had.
Young Brett presenting his multiple part presentation for the family trip
Jim DeRentis: Brett is the most organized person I've ever met. Who else would propose marriage on a Powerpoint presentation?
Brett proposing to Jim on bended knee with a Brett's Plan for Happily Ever After graph.
Smiley: I have a plan for public education, job creation. My plan for public safety taxes handguns, like we tax cigarettes.
Interviewer: Wow. That's a big idea. Are you excited about it?
Smiley: (deadpan) Yes.
Cut to Jim and Brett's home as night falls, Smiley still talking about his ideas.
Smiley: I have a plan for public transportation, for economic development. A plan for our environment.
DeRentis: Goodnight, Brett.
The porch light goes off.
Pitch perfect!
This isn't the first political ad to show a gay candidate's spouse or significant other. In fact, California Republican congressional candidate from San Diego, Carl DeMaio, included a shot in his recent campaign ad of him holding his partner's hand.
What makes Smiley's ad unique is the non-issue it presents particularly for Democrats. For Carl DeMaio, it is a cutting-edge moment for Republicans so sadly behind the rest of society. For Brett Smiley, his husband is included just as any other spouse might be during a run for public office. There is no artifice or need for rationalization or explanation. Jim DeRentis is just fully there, supporting his husband's campaign. As it should be.
I know very little about Providence politics and what the people are seeking from their elected officials. However, reading his website told me quickly that if I lived in Providence, he would have my vote. In any political race, I vote for the person who stands for my own progressive values, be they gay, straight, or otherwise.
As it should be.
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June 13, 2014
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