It's been nearly a week since the first presidential debate, but the Obama campaign hopes Mitt Romney's Big Bird gaffe is still strong enough in the minds of voters that an ad lampooning the GOP nominee's vow to "crack down on Sesame Street" will slow down the post-debate momentum evident in the latest Pew Research poll.

Some campaign ads are clearly better than others.

Despite losing the financial backing of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and Karl Rove's powerful American Crossroads Super PAC, Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) appears to be charging ahead undaunted in his effort to unseat Sen. Claire McCaskill in the upcoming election.

Today we saw a different, more agile, more feline side of Rick Perry. That silent way in which he stalks his prey is just one among an impressive, um, skill set? One commenter thinks this strange collection of talents Perry has exhibited can be boiled down to a simple numbers game.

The Ron Paul campaign has channeled a new muse in its latest campaign ad, "BIG DOG," and it is one long championed by our foremost aesthetes: Those Denis Leary commercials where he rants about Ford F-150s while scary words fly all over the place.

Just because Herman Cain '12 made an ad featuring chief of staff Mark Block as some kind of kooky, hatless Marlboro Man does not mean that you should start smoking, or that smoking will make you look like a suave campaign operative, or any such thing. No, the takeway of that commercial was this: "let people be people," and also (and more importantly?) "Mark Block smokes."