As I understand it, these ads are set to start running this weekend or early next week.

If this is the entire ad strategy, it’s disappointing. Part of the problem with using volunteers to do campaign ads is that, usually they can’t act and they have a hard time acting like themselves when the camera light comes on. This is clearly true with a few of the people here, especially the guy with the beard at the end.

However, as I noted yesterday, the New York Times reports that there are five ads that will roll-out starting this week and, for the opening shot, this one isn’t bad at all.

Update: A note to the overwhelming number of you who seem to think this ad is a bomb. To some extent, I agree. I don’t think it was very well produced, and the “actors were, well, just bad. A few things to keep in mind, though. First, this is supposed to be step one in a five-part ad campaign — so its worth waiting to see what comes next; if the next few have similar issues, then it’s time to raise questions. Second, the campaign is obviously trying to appeal to mainstream Republican voters, not people who surf the net or watch YouTube videos. Third, I’ve watched most of the YouTube videos that some of you have referred to; they’re good for amateur work, but for television ads meant to appeal to a broad spectrum of voters, most of them don’t make the cut.