Every election, there is always one race that experts say is "the nastiest campaign I've ever seen." In describing elections, commentators and journalists throw out words like ugly, brutal, personal, vicious - it happens every year.
A few years back it was Sen. Tommy Norment, R-James City, versus Williamsburg businessman and anti-tax activist Paul Jost. Both guys spent a ton of money and there was no shortage of personal attacks. And it seems like Del. Tom Gear always finds himself an opponent to mix it up with.
The problem is perspective - and for real perspective, check out this archive of presidential campaign commericals dating back to 1952. It's the Livingroom Candidate collection from the Museum of the Moving Image. It has some of the nicest campaign clips ever, like the one that follows for Dwight Eisenhower, as well as some of the nastiest -- like the LBJ commercial that connected Barry Goldwater and nuclear destruction.
You also have to check out Eisenhower reading the cue cards. And there are other great ads for Ronald Reagan, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Jimmy Carter.
Click here for the full library but make sure you have some time to spend because there are some serious gems in there.



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