Your Voice: Voters Talk Campaign Ads

The South Carolina Republican Primary is less than 40 days away—on January 21— and the first votes of the primary season are due to be cast in Iowa in less than 20 days—on January 3.

So, we've started checking with voters who have been following the campaign closely. , we talked to them about Herman Cain's fall and Newt Gingrich's rise. This week, we ask them about the candidates' videos. Rick Perry's "Strong" has been much talked about and sharply divided many in the Republican Party. Here they are:

From Ron Paul: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Jzi3HBCS2M

From Rick Perry: http://www.youtube.com/user/RPerry2012?v=0PAJNntoRgA

From Mitt Romney: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vma5oLGmbe0

From Newt Gingrich: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9TVrLTObmg

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First, we talk to Bill Pomeroy. Bill spoke to us a couple of weeks back about the primary. Click :

Ron Paul's video definitely gets your attention. Newt stands defenseless on these issues. Paul is consistent and steady on his core beliefs. He does not waffle!

Rick Perry's and Newt's videos are the basic "Baseball-Apple Pie-and Love of Country" messages that we see and hear in all elections.

Mitt Romney's video follows the crowd of dumping on Newt..however Newt deserves to be dumped on for his statements on a most important issue for the American people.
It is dump on Newt time and we will see the polls reflect and adjust to this strange approach by the "conservative" GOP to select their candidate.

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Next is Jane Kizer, who closely follows all things political at the local and national level, also weighed in. You can follow Jane on Twitter @JaneKizer.

I found Newt's video to be refreshing as well as Rick Perry's. Newt's video gave a vision, much like Ronald Reagan did. A vision of what America could be. He addressed the major concerns of people across America. He mentioned shrinking government, its regulations and the tax code. He mentioned national security by saying we can stand strong again. Being true to our faith was also a phrase he used. All the while playing very soothing music in the background and showing images of country, faith, and individuals.
 
His video says all the right things. It is up to us to decide if we can believe what he says. His past record tells me it isn't guaranteed. But for those watching this video, who do not know his past, they might be ready to run to the polls and vote for him. He is continuing his strategy of not attacking his opponents as well.
 
The same cannot be said for Ron Paul and Mitt Romney. As a voter, I look down on these types of ads. I think it is important to let people know about prior votes of an opponent if they contrast what is good for the people. But I think it can be done in a more tasteful manner, one that would give the voter the information they need without leaving a bad taste in their mouth.
 
Rick Perry's video was the highlight of the four, mainly because he speaks on a subject near to my heart. The faith of Christians in this country has been attacked in many ways. But I don't think it is a true statement that Obama has waged war against religion. He has just waged it against Christianity. Rewriting history books and ignoring quotes from our founding fathers that explicitly state a republic cannot function without a moral people, our country's leadership has defied the foundation of our nation. I am glad someone recognizes that fact and committed an entire advertisement to it. Nice job, Rick!

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Third is James Akers, a realtor with the Marchant Company in Greenville. You can follow James on Twitter @jamesakersjr.

Ron Paul: His commercial is well produced and hard hitting. I think as people look into this ad and realize it is factually accurate, it could hurt Gingrich in the polls, but I'm not sure those votes go to Paul. These facts have been out there and Gingrich has really failed to answer the questions here. Paul hitting him hard might force a misstep by Gingrich, something most politico's agree he is known for.

Rick Perry: This is a campaign ad straight out of 2000. Rick Perry is choosing to go after a group of people purely for what he hopes will be political gain. I have seen a number of friends on Facebook jump all over how horrible this ad is. His campaign even used a gay American composers music behind the voice. President Obama won the election by trying to bring people together, not by diving the country. Rick Perry is trying to win by doing the opposite. 

Mitt Romney: This was also an accurate ad, using Newt's words against him. I think it might hurt Newt a bit, but again, I'm not sure people who were supporting Newt would ever support a Romney. 

Gingrich: Not an attack ad and ignores the other three ads. It does a great job of making Gingrich look like the grumpy old man he has been made out to be. Having met Gingrich a number of times myself, I have never seen him be this soft spoken and nice in person. It seems to be trying to replicate President Reagan's "City on a Hill" commercial, but it falls short of that. 
If I were asked to rank these ads, I would say Paul's is by far the best, then Romney, Gingrich and Perry.

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Finally we talked to George McLeer, executive director of the . You can follow George on Twitter @gpmcleer. Stay tuned for more from George on Friday.

For Romney and Paul - All they're telling us to do is not vote for Newt. Nowhere in these ads do Romney or Paul say why we should vote for them. At the very least the ads say "If you vote for me, you're not voting for Newt."

Newt - Newt's ad is the only one that puts any bullet points on the table.  He is trying to attract independent voters with his message of "working together". However, his record as Speaker would speak otherwise of his ability to work together. I wonder if the "we" in "if we work together" is, in his mind, merely the entire Republican party and not the whole country.

Perry - I'm sorry, but I thought there was something in the Constitution about separation of Church & State? This video is appalling, and political suicide. He can kiss any independent, democrat, and moderate vote goodbye with this one. Regardless of your view on LGBT rights, we all live in the same country together. Singling one group out as pretty much a disappointment for the country is intolerable of a President and a presidential candidate. While the whole "celebrating Christmas in the classroom" issue is a sad one, the rest of the video is just too much to compensate. And just to make matters even more ironically beautiful - the music playing in the background was written by Aaron Copland, an early 1900s composer who was not only a one-time member of the Communist party, but also very open about being gay.

Aside from that, the bigger issue here is claiming "Obama's War on Religion." Which religion? Because if Perry only means Christianity, then you can also eliminate votes from Jewish, Islamic, Muslim, Buddhist, and any other religious sect. America wasn't founded on Christianity, it was founded on freedom from persecution of a government entity based on religious beliefs (hence - separation of Church & State). And let us not forget the Republican persecution of building an Islamic center near Ground Zero. If that's not a political "war on religion" then I don't know what is. Then again, I also find it ironic that a governor of a state who has approved the executions of over 100 individuals is also pro-life. If I'm not mistaken, the pro-life stance is to respect life at all stages from conception to natural death (I'm pro-life). This video also has over 600,000 'dislikes' on YouTube and only 20,000 'likes.' 

If you'd like to weigh in send an e-mail at shawn@patch.com or comment below.