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- Written by Walter Walter
What has happened in the last 50-odd years that changed the way the United States elects its President? Television. Television rocked the way politics works in the US probably more than any other country in the world. That's because so many voters had television sets and so many different networks and local channels sprang up around the country to present different opinions and programming.
The Living Room Candidate, a web project of the Museum of the Moving Image, hosts a collection of campaign commercials from each presidential campaign going back to 1952 (Eisenhower defeated Stevenson). Updated for 2016 to cover the Clinton-Trump campaign, each commercial is played on the screen with a commentary about the salient points of the ad. If you have never seen any of the "I Like Ike" ads for Eisenhower, treat yourself to sixty-seconds of down-home 1950's kitch.
While the Museum of the Moving Image has several other projects that could be weird on their own (check out the Computer Space exhibit on video games) the standout here is worthwhile for any seeker of the webs weirdness.