issue advocacy

Billionaire oilman and Republican uber-donor T. Boone Pickens has plunked down $58 million to promote his solution to the energy crisis which he calls, strangely enough, the Pickens Plan.  He’s sinking the bulk of that money into a massive issue advertising campaign and his first ad went on the air last week:

This spot accomplishes a very difficult feat.  It makes two arguments to two diametrically opposed constituencies… and does it effectively.  Conservatives will eat up the patriotic/energy independence message while liberals will latch onto the environmentalist imagery.  Pickens himself is an effective spokesman, but by tying the plan directly to his own personal brand he has forfeited a number of key advantages.