US presidential elections 2024: "History is watching" says Biden

Politics is at the forefront of the good, the bad and the ugly in advertising. Incumbent US President Joe Biden opens the new year with an ad campaign focusing on democracy - a concept which is more disputed than ever - via a collage of events from recent and older history, voiced by the 81-year-old Biden. The one-minute spot is heavily laced with references to former President Donald Trump, without actually naming him - implying that there is an expectation Trump will be the Republican Party's nominee. This, despite efforts by various states to ban Trump from appearing on the ballot. Talking of democracy. “I’ve made the preservation of American democracy an essential issue of my presidency,” Biden says in the ad. “Now, something dangerous is happening in America. There’s an extremist movement that does not share the basic beliefs in our democracy.” The 2020 election saw the highest voter turnout in history, with both the Democratic Party's candidate Biden and Trump garnering more than 74 million votes. Various events and reports since have served to increase divisiveness in the name of democracy, with entrenched positions and opinions prevailing in the media at least over debate and understanding for the betterment of society. Independent candidates this year include Robert Kennedy Jr (RFK) of the USA's 'political royalty' clan. However, even RFK faces challenges in gaining visibility in mainstream media / giant tech platforms, and it's not hard to see why just when looking at the figures: Forbes put total political advertising spending at $8.5 billion across TV, radio and digital media in the 2019-2020 election cycle, and spending totals for this presidential election year are expected to be up 30% on that, topping out round the US$16 billion mark. Yes, that's billion with a 'b'. What do you think of this Joe Biden / Kamala Harris campaign?

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