Half of worst 2014 campaign ad nominees are from Michigan

Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post's "The Fix" blog took on the task of choosing the worst political ad of 2014 and, of the six nominees he started with, half of them have ties to the Michigan Senate race.
Two were attack ads run on behalf of Terri Lynn Land in her Senate run against Gary Peters. Another was the now-infamous

60-second spot by the College Republican National Committee that ran in several states, including Michigan. 
The Michigan version of that ad equated Rick Snyder and Mark Schauer to wedding dresses eyed by a future bride.

The Land ad titled "Really" received widespread ridicule because about half of the 30-second spot showed the Republican candidate silently drinking coffee. Messaging guru Frank Luntz and Fox News a few months ago called it the worst ad of the campaign season, at that time.
The Michigan Republican Party ad called "Gary Peters Loan Sharknado" tried to tie the Democratic congressman to some shady characters, but it relied on animation that attached a head shot of the candidate to a cartoon body that looked kind of like Fred Flintstone. Needless to say, this late October commercial -- relying upon a theme from the film "Sharknado," which was so bad that it's become a classic -- was dreadful.
Bloomberg News called it “The Worst Campaign Ad That Human Beings Actually Paid for This Year.” The folks at Iagreetosee.com suggested the campaign spot and the movie have something in common: "This ad is so bad it just might be contagious." 

Here is the list of nominees that The Fix compiled:

* Mark Begich, "Jerry Active"

* College Republican National Committee, "Say Yes to      Rick Scott"

* Wendy Davis, "Justice"

* Terri Lynn Land, "Really"

* Michigan GOP, "Gary Peters Loan Sharknado"

* NARAL, "Sweetpea"

Cillizza explains why the MIGOP batted .500 in this game of mediocrity this way:

"Michigan Republicans didn't have a very good year making ads.  The 'Sharknado' ad was an attempt to go viral that instead flopped -- the victim of terrible production values and a just plain dumb idea. ...Land's attempt to rebut the 'war on women' attack probably seemed like a good idea in the planning meeting -- 'Here's what we'll do ... you'll just sit on camera for 10 seconds and drink tea while music plays in the background!'--  but it didn't work at all. She was not even close to comfortable enough on camera to pull it off."

The Fix's choice of the winning/losing ad for worst of the year was aired by in September by Democratic Senate candidate Mark Begich of Alaska. Begich, who was officially declared the loser of that race yesterday, tried to pin his opponent, former Alaska Attorney General Danny Sullivan, with indirect responsibility for a gruesome murder and a sexual assault of a child.

Never a good idea unless you have some iron-clad proof.

Here's how Politifact judged the ad:

Begich said Sullivan approved a "light sentence" to a sex offender who is now charged with "murdering a senior couple and sexually assaulting their 2-year-old granddaughter."

(The defendant), who is awaiting trial, received a shorter sentence than he was supposed to, but the mistake that led to this sentence happened before Sullivan became attorney general. So to pin the error on Sullivan is wrong, and to suggest that he actively approved the sentence is a fabrication. 

The ad is not only inaccurate, it makes an inflammatory accusation. We rate this claim "Pants on Fire."