The Presidential campaign ad has become an art form of its own. And every art form needs a museum, which is where the Living Room Candidate comes in.

This online exhibit, curated by the Museum of the Moving Image, brings together TV ads from every Presidential election campaign since 1952. The ads are available for web viewing, and provide a comprehensive look at the evolution of political message-making in the television era. Included are campaign classics like Lyndon Johnson's 1964 "Daisy Girl" ad and George Bush the elder's memorable "Willie Horton" and "Tank Ride" attack ads from 1988.

 
Ads from the current 2008 campaign season are also online --- both candidate-endorsed spots and ads from political action commitees (PACs). More than 60 spots have been posted for the Obama vs. McCain race so far, including numerous web-based ads. The site carries more than 300 ads in all.

The Living Room Candidate has become a valuable source of entertainment and education since its initial launch in 2000, offering a glimpse back in time at the sights and sounds of election seasons past. The videos can be browsed by election year or by the type of commercial, choosing from spots labeled "fear," "backfire," or "real people," by which we suppose they mean "not politicians."   

There are other ways to meander through the site's content, such as tracking Issues like change, civil rights, taxes, and corruption over the decades. Sampling a few commercials, you notice that campaign themes and strategies don't change much over time. But the presentations do get slicker and more aggressive. Notable figures in journalism including John Dickerson of Slate and Leslie Savan have assembled themed playlists with commentary for a little expert insight. The curator of the Museum of the Moving Image, David Schwartz, also put together a collection of classic ads throughout history. 

A $435,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation made the redesign and relaunch of this year's edition possible.