The earlier you can define your opponent in negative terms the more likely it is to for those terms to stick. Trying to cram a narrative into six months is harder then spending two years asking “why has 30 year career politician Susan Collins failed to bring prices down?” Feckless concerns have not lowered the price of groceries for Mainers” etc.
I just think it's common sense, the earlier you define your opponent in negative terms the more likely those terms are to stick. Obama ads during the Spring-Summer of 12 defined Romney as an out of touch billionaire business asshole that stuck and was reinforced by his actions. Attacks on Trump as a chaos agent were made in 2019 and reinforced by the pandemic. The senile attacks on Biden stuck and were amplified when he claimed he "beat Medicare". Collins is running for reelection so there is no reason to wait aside from resources, so we should be tying her to all of the worlds problems as soon as possible tying her to inflation and other unpopular things that have happened during her time in government. Define your opponent before your opponent defines you is politics 101 it doesn't have to be strictly through ads either.
Because I don't think it'll have any effect on the election. I could be wrong, but what's the evidence that advertising this early does anything?
The earlier you can define your opponent in negative terms the more likely it is to for those terms to stick. Trying to cram a narrative into six months is harder then spending two years asking “why has 30 year career politician Susan Collins failed to bring prices down?” Feckless concerns have not lowered the price of groceries for Mainers” etc.
What's the evidence that such early ads work?
I just think it's common sense, the earlier you define your opponent in negative terms the more likely those terms are to stick. Obama ads during the Spring-Summer of 12 defined Romney as an out of touch billionaire business asshole that stuck and was reinforced by his actions. Attacks on Trump as a chaos agent were made in 2019 and reinforced by the pandemic. The senile attacks on Biden stuck and were amplified when he claimed he "beat Medicare". Collins is running for reelection so there is no reason to wait aside from resources, so we should be tying her to all of the worlds problems as soon as possible tying her to inflation and other unpopular things that have happened during her time in government. Define your opponent before your opponent defines you is politics 101 it doesn't have to be strictly through ads either.