Alger: In the middle of the ad we've got all this sunshiney farm stuff, and then suddenly it goes to grainy black and white, and we've got video of Coleman which is I think slowed down and there's no sound. It's more of that distorted video of the opposing candidate that violates the campaign ad code of the Minnesota Compact.

Steinman: What the candidates seem to be telling us is what governing style they have. And what we need to know is what are they going to propose to the Legislature on the specific problems that face Minnesotans.

Steinmen: Visually, it's designed to give a positive impression of Humphrey - there's a lot of green, there's kids playing, there's older people, there's blue-collar people, there's a lot of ball being played.

But analyst Clay Steinman says because the ads only appeal to rural Minnesota, Johnson seems to be campaigning for the State Legislature, not the governor's seat.

Dean Alger agrees that Dayton needs to offer more specifics, but says Dayton should be commended for running ads with more substance and striking proposals than any other candidate.

Alger: Frankly, it's a series of very generic value statements that it's hard to find anybody who disagrees with him - dealing with violence in the schools, and we need to teach discipline and values. Terrific, Mike. What in the world does that mean in practice for actual school teachers in actual classrooms? Frankly, this tells me nothing.

Read August 28, 1998 story featuring this ad

Steinman: Well, Coleman's trying to do something that's pretty tricky - he's trying to say he's pro-farmer without differentiating between corporate farmers and small farmers. His policies seem to be pro-corporate farmers - he stresses no limits on livestock feedlots.

Clay Steinman says the Johnson spots have the same whimsical quality as Senator Paul Wellstone's green bus ads - both were produced by award-winning adman Bill Hillsman. Still, Steinman wonders what frogs have to do with the issues facing Minnesota.