Final Thoughts | Camera Ready
4/16/202633 min
Springer makes his most ambitious political move yet. And while his work on the campaign trail may not deliver him to the governor’s office, he finds his stride in another arena: television.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsMark Moskowitz· Guest0:00
No one was ever better than Jerry Springer at talking to the lens and making contact with the person on the other side of it. He was just brilliant at it.
Leon Neyfakh· Host0:10
Mark Moskowitz has spent his life making political ads. He's produced thousands of them. One of his early campaigns was for Jerry Springer. With his time as mayor in the rear view, Springer was ready for a bigger platform, and in 1982, he decided to run for governor of Ohio. One of his team's first moves was to hire the media firm where Moskowitz worked.
Mark Moskowitz· Guest0:31
We thought of the campaign as a three-act play. The opening act is name recognition. Here's this guy, and here's what he's done and who he is.
Leon Neyfakh· Host0:40
Springer was a household name in Cincinnati, but this election was not just about Cincinnati. In order to win the Democratic nomination for governor, Springer would have to reach people across the entire state, from Cleveland to Columbus to Appalachia.
Mark Moskowitz· Guest0:56
No one knows who he is. He has a New York accent. He's a Jewish guy living in Cincinnati, which all the Democratic votes are in northern Ohio. To those people, Cincinnati's in Kentucky. He's at, like, four in the polls, you know. How are we going to tell people who he is?
Leon Neyfakh· Host1:13
Most political ads at the time followed the same formula. Earnest voiceover, cheerful elevator music, montage of contrived images. Think Jimmy Carter wearing a plaid shirt and working on a farm.
Speaker 21:27
Jimmy Carter knows what it's like to