Many of you probably saw this ad yesterday, posted by Ben Smith at Politico. I keep watching it and giggling, but I’ve decided I really like it for one simple reason: It’s straightforward. If you think about it, “He kicks children in the face” is the kind of implicit charge lots of politicians would like to be able to make about their rivals. It has absolutely no bearing on how this guy’s service has been as mayor, but at least no one’s beating around the bush here.

— Monica Potts

Monica Potts is a former senior writer at The American Prospect. She is working on a book about low-income women in her rural Arkansas hometown. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, New York, Vogue.com, The Daily Beast, The Trace, and Democracy.