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Catchiest campaign ads of 2014: nine pitches that made an impression

What do Barry Manilow, skeet shooting, and driving a car in reverse have to do with the 2014 elections? Well, this campaign season had no shortage of interesting TV ads 鈥� including ones with the motifs just mentioned. To be fair, though, it's important to say upfront that a connection between the 1970s pop singer and the Kentucky Senate race happened without formal planning.

Here鈥檚 an election-season recap through the lens of the 30-second-or-longer ads that have made an impression, influencing close races for governor or the US Senate. These videos are some of the catchiest of the campaign 鈥� or most symbolic of key election themes 鈥� and show how both major parties used the airwaves for better and sometimes worse.

1. 'Just one more'

Greg Abbott, a Republican running for Texas governor, describes in this ad how an accident left him in a wheelchair, and how he struggled to find new mobility by pushing the chair up the ramps of an eight-story parking garage. 鈥淛ust one more,鈥� he would tell himself 鈥� describing the determined spirit he hopes to bring to the job of governor.

His opponent may have made the ad鈥檚 positive tone stand out all the more by launching a wheelchair-related negative ad. The ad by Democratic challenger Wendy Davis has gained heaps of criticism for complaining that after the accident involving Mr. Abbott, 鈥渉e sued and got millions鈥� and then 鈥渟pent his career working against other victims.鈥�

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