Cutting those political ads down to size

In case you haven’t heard, it’s election season again (or as The Daily Show has been calling it, Midterm Midtacular). If you’re not inundated enough by the onslaught of political commercials on your TV screen (now there’s a good thing about TiVo), check out Damned Spot, Slate’s new (although infrequent) feature dissecting political ads. In a multimedia format, John Dickerson takes apart the advertising strategies employed by candidates in Tennesee and Rhode Island, such as the nefarious use of the “dangerous narrator” and the silent-yet-loving wife.