Campaign Lessons from Catalonia

Note to the wary: the links on this post are not for minors, even if they are in Catalan. And they are not for your Aunt Minnie either.

American politicos can learn something from the election campaign in Catalonia, the autonomous region whose capital is Barcelona. Videos by different parties have added some spice to the process, always welcome in bringing out the vote.

First the youth division of the Socialists came out with a video in which an attractive young female voter gets a little heated up on entering the polling station, and then has a rather sublime time of it introducing her ballot into the ballot box. See it here (sorry about the ad).

Then a fringe party (Alternativa de Govern) did a video with its leader, Montse Nebrera, appearing on camera wrapped in a towel after sounds of sex, and saying something like, "I could go further but...."  The video is a little long, tracking through a disheveled bedroom and some political messages in Catalan while the soundtrack plays out to its conclusion, but Montse is worth the wait, even if she must be some kind of political kook (she is backed by the Opus Dei, altho I'm not sure if they previewed her campaign material). Judge for yourself here.

This was all very fun, but then the conservative Popular Party's youth brigade sent out a video game where their candidate avatar gets points for shooting down illegal immigrants and symbols of Catalan identity such as paellas and butifarra sausages  (stand-ins for those pesky Catalan indepentistas). But there was a fuss and  they had to withdraw the game and come up with some plausible excuse. Here's a couple of screen shots someone got before they pulled it, where you can appreciated the campaign's graphic skills:

There she is, up in the left hand corner on the back (or neck) of a seagull, a party symbol, whacking away at immigrants and butiffaras with her light bulb missiles (get it? -- bright ideas). Note the apocalyptically silhouetted homeland, with Calatravian doodles in ruins, a beseiged cross, and a burning glow on the horizon....

With only 40% of the electorate expected to turn out, anything is worth a try.