On this slow-news summer Friday, both Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin have released promotional videos, Romney to advertise his presidential primary push in New Hampshire and Palin because she just had such a great time in Iowa. Both adhere to something of a formula, but that doesn’t mean they’re indistinguishable, and there can be only one challenger for Barack Obama in 2012. Which team has the best videographer and understanding of America, as condensed into a two-minute YouTube video? We’ve put them head-to-head after the jump.
Title
Romney: “Mitt on the Road: A Week in New Hampshire,” which is both intimate (first-name basis!) and descriptive.
Palin: “Iowa Passion.” Huh?
Length
Romney: 2:13
Palin: 2:18
Music
Romney: Plaintive piano followed by inspiring acoustic guitar, all instrumental.
Palin: Inspiring electric guitar, all instrumental.
Nonwhite People
Romney: One, in the background. (We think.)
Palin: Between five and ten, including CNN’s Don Lemon.
Factory, Diner, or State Fair?
Romney: Diner and factory. Bonus points for the old-fashioned time-card machine.
Palin: Just the fair, but a lot of it. Bonus points for the sunset.
“Folks” Count
Romney: 1
Palin: 1
Cinematography Flairs
Romney: Soft-focus fades.
Palin: Fish-eye lens.
Overall
It’s close. The best part of the Palin clip is about fried food on a stick (“Heck yeah!”) and she’s probably still not running for president, but Romney, after starting off strong with two mentions of Jimmy Carter, insists on resurrecting his questionable “corporations are people” line in detail, telling the camera, “Businesses are comprised of people … It’s really astonishing to me that the Obama folks would try and argue that businesses aren’t people. What do they think they are? Little men from Mars? But when they tax business, they tax people.” He should probably just let that one go.
We’ll call it a tie, but watch both clips below.
