Pushing Up Daisies

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There's a twisted new epilogue to Lyndon Johnson's 1964 "Daisy" ad, best remembered as the "Barry Goldwater is going to destroy the world" commercial. In 2000, a Republican consultant named Carey Lee Cramer cut a copycat ad against Al Gore, portraying a cute girl picking daisies until she's nuked by China.

Lesson: If you've got a yen for molesting young girls, don't remake the "Daisy" ad.

Political consultant and ad producer Carey Lee Cramer is expected to testify today defending himself against charges he sexually molested two young girls.

One of the girls lived with Cramer and his ex-wife Samara Whittaker for eight years in Mercedes, McAllen and Tucson, Ariz., and claimed he began to inappropriately touch her beginning when she was 8 years old. She testified the abuse included pornography, sex toys and escalated from touching to sexual intercourse… One of the girls in the ad stands as his accuser now.

For some lessons on how to do negative campaigning right (read: no sex with actresses), check out the interview Reason's Kerry Howley conducted with "Going Dirty" author David Mark.