Lamont hires new media consultants

Lamont's campaign hired these guys? Now we're talking big time folks!

If they can do what they did for Jesse Ventura, then Joe Lieberman is in a lot of trouble.

Ned Lamont's campaign for U.S. Senate has parted ways with his media consultant, Ken Swopes & Associates, and hired a political ad man known for edgier, attention-getting commercials.

Bill Hillsman, whose clients have included Ralph Nader, the late Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota and that state's wrestler-turned-governor, Jesse Ventura, is the campaign's new choice.

"There were just some creative tension[s]" with the Swopes firm, said Tom Swan, manager of the Lamont campaign. "We parted on good terms."

In a profile in Mother Jones magazine, Hillsman is described as producing spots "that look and feel more like Super Bowl commercials than typical political ads. The buzz they generate helps Hillsman's underdog clients compete with better funded and more entrenched candidates, getting the attention of undecided voters and giving the media more reason to cover the campaign."

[...]

Based on Hillsman's past commercials, Connecticut viewers could be in store for political ads unlike those typically seen. In Ventura's campaign, the candidate was portrayed as an action figure.

Hillsman told Mother Jones that his own clients frequently have a hard time accepting his work.

"The only one who really got it was Ventura. And that's simply because he was a creature of popular culture. He understood that what we were doing was going to have resonance and traction with people who were interested in popular culture - TV watchers."

Like I said, things are going to get VERY interesting VERY soon.