Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum's latest TV ad looks like it's straight of the 1990s. Using a style borrowed form VH1's hit show, "Pop Up Video," in which little text bubbles gave viewers tidbits of information about the song and production process, Santorum's spot seeks to tell voters that he is a family man with strong traditional values.
While his music may be sappier than some of the VH1 show's subjects -- and perhaps less so than others -- the information Santorum provides all seeks to build on the conservative narrative that he's been driving through his keenly focused Iowa campaign.
Santorum and his wife, Karen, "have been married 21 years," an "info nugget" explains. "All the Santorum children were homeschooled," another one reads. The ad also takes the opportunity to tout statements by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, both strong figures in the GOP's Christian conservative base, in support of Santorum's positions and character.
After dedicating the vast majority of his campaign to retail politics in Iowa, Santorum is currently seeing a bounce in the polls in ahead of the state's Jan. 3 caucuses. He's leapfrogged from sixth place to fourth place in recent polling there, and has sought to fuel this momentum by increasing his ad buy across the state. This commercial is the latest product of that push.