Democrats May Have Found Their Daisy Ad for 2024

Remember watching or learning about the LBJ Daisy Ad from the 1964 Presidential Campaign where the little girl is county flower petals and then the sound of a man reciting a nuclear warhead countdown takes her place. 

That ad was broadcast only once but the intense media scrutiny that surrounded it immediately afterward and in the historical description of the campaign sealed the impression that 1964 Republican Presidential Nominee Barry Goldwater was too dangerous to be entrusted with the nuclear codes in the White House. 

Now, in 2023, Democrats may have found the Reproductive Freedom ad equivalent of the Daisy piece that can greatly assist their candidates in this years and the 2024 elections. 

The Democratic Super Pac, Progress Action Fund, has launched a PG-13 rated ad in Ohio designed to turn out voters to both:

• Reject an August Republican measure that would require a 60 percent vote (instead of a simple majority) to approve amendments to the Ohio State Constitution.
• Secure the rights of reproductive freedom in this year's November election. 

Called "Ohio Republicans in Your Bedroom," the ad starts with a couple in bed about to have sex. The woman asks if the man has a condom and as he is reaching for it in a night stand drawer, an old man takes it out of the drawer first, saying "Sorry you can't use those."

When the woman asks who the old man is, he states that "I am your Republican Congressman. Now that we're in charge, we're banning birth control."

The woman protests, saying "this is our decision, not yours. Get out of our bedroom."

To which the insensitive, out of touch old Republican, acting like Big Brother out of 1984 responds, "I won the last election. I'm not going anywhere. I'm just going to watch and make sure you don't do anything illegal."

The caption at the end of the ad states, "Keep Republicans Out of Your Bedroom. Vote No on August 8." 

This is a very effective and powerful ad that perfectly captures the theme of do you want the government in your bedroom, interfering with your love life, or worse watching you and your partner through some hidden camera watching you at your most intimate moments?

Commenting on the effectiveness of the ad, Matters of State Strategies Partner Matt Grodsky commented:

"It's a genius concept that cuts through the noise and will resonate especially with younger audiences who require some shock to pay attention. This is the kind of messaging that Democrats need to utilize in 2024."

With many Republicans across the country continuing their attack on reproductive freedom and the right to use contraception, variations of this ad should be very helpful to Democratic Candidates from the top to the bottom of the ticket in the 2023, 2024, and future election cycles.

Democrats crushed Republicans in a landslide in 1964 thanks in part to the one time broadcast Daisy ad. 

Imagine what they can do if ads like the one being shown in Ohio can continually appear on regular and social media 24/7 in all 50 states and American Territories. 

Imagine.