Each election cycle, voters have to suffer from a plethora of campaign advertising from the candidates. Only a few of them are memorable in any way. Here’s a look at some of the more notable NC campaign television ads through the years:

“White Hands” – 1990, U.S. Senate

This is the notorious Jesse Helms ad aired in the final week of his 1990 Senate campaign against Harvey Gantt. It features a white man’s hands crumpling up a job rejection form because “they had to give it to a minority.” Despite the infamy of the ad, Helms veterans say the ad was poorly-received and what really hurt Gantt was an ad claiming he used his minority status to buy a TV license and then sold it at a profit. That’s what they say, anyway. In any case, Helms won a massive share of white Democrats living in rural areas that year.

“Rocking Chairs” – 2008, U.S. Senate

Flash-forward all the way back to 2008, August to be exact. Elizabeth Dole was defending her Senate seat against an unknown state senator named Kay Hagan, and was up significantly in the polls. Dole’s lead was built on extremely soft support, however, and this ad and others like it by the DSCC nuked her campaign. Message: Dole is old, ineffective, and too supportive of George W. Bush. Dole never recovered from this assault on her favorables.

Godless” – 2008, U.S. Senate

Now here’s an ad that obviously didn’t work, but it sparked a whole lot of controversy and even a lawsuit from Kay Hagan. The ad claimed that Hagan attended a fundraiser held by “Godless Americans” and insinuated that in the Senate she would be at the behest of a bunch of atheists. That would have sparked enough controversy. What really got people talking though, was the end of the ad, when a voice very similar to Kay Hagan’s declared “There is no God!”

“Belief” – 2008, U.S. Senate

Thereafter, Hagan released an angry response ad, defending herself against charges of godlessness and claiming that the Dole people had “faked her voice” and attacked her faith. The response ad was pitch-perfect and wrapped up the Senate contest for Hagan.

Wesley Meredith attack ad – 2010, NC State Senate

In 2010, Republicans everywhere were riding high and in North Carolina were vying for control of the State Senate. One of the Democrats they were targeting was Margaret Dickson of Cumberland County. This ad from Wesley Meredith sparked a lot of outrage, with some saying it depicted Dickson as a prostitute. It was brutally effective though, and helped Meredith to oust the incumbent that year. Meredith has been in the Senate ever since.

“No Mosque at Ground Zero” – 2010, U.S. House

Strategists for Renee Ellmers’ 2010 campaign reckoned that voters in the state’s 2nd congressional district would not want to support a candidate who was silent on the issue of the so-called mosque at Ground Zero. They were right.

“Morgan Freeman” – 2010, U.S. House

In the 4th district, incumbent Democrat David Price was up for reelection against BJ Lawson, a constitutional conservative Republican with libertarian views similar to Ron Paul’s. Lawson had the best chance of any Republican running against Price in years, and in the final days of the race he was buoyed by the support of Morgan Freeman, who cut an ad for the campaign.

Except, it wasn’t actually Morgan Freeman. Oops. Instead, it was someone impersonating his voice. A good impersonation, but not the real deal by any means. Freeman denied ever cutting an ad and said the Lawson campaign was lying. The Lawson campaign said they got duped by a production company. Whatever happened, one thing is clear – the controversy completely backfired on Lawson and halted his momentum, and he lost on Election Night by double-digits.

“Tell Thom Tillis” – 2014, U.S. Senate

If you supported Thom Tillis, this series of ads probably left you with a feeling of deep unease. That’s because they were highly effective. Just check out “Megan” here – she’s in line at some kind of Tell Thom Tillis studio, implying that there are a whole bunch of folks being affected by Tillis’s policies and she’s just one. They helped changed the focus of the campaign. One Hagan strategist bragged that they had turned the election into a “School Board race.” This assault by the DSCC made September 2014 a horrible month for the Tillis campaign.

“Cocktails” – 2014, U.S. Senate

The Tillis campaign starting hitting its stride in mid-October, when concerns about ebola and ISIS changed the focus of the debate. “Cocktails” was deadly to the Hagan campaign, charging that the senator had skipped an ISIS briefing to attend a campaign fundraiser, complete with cocktails. In focus groups, participants were aghast upon learning this and it influenced many to switch their votes from Hagan to Tillis, something that probably held true throughout the state. From mid-October forward, the Hagan campaign was on defense, desperately trying to cling on to the lead they had built – a lead that evaporated in the final weeks of the campaign.

“House of Crawford” – 2014, NC Senate

This House of Cards-themed ad was aired by the campaign of Chad Barefoot against challenger Sarah Crawford. Featuring actors playing Sarah Crawford and her lobbyist husband, the ad raised questions about a potential conflict of interest should Crawford be elected. This is probably a contender for the top NC legislative ad of the 2014 election cycle. It’s definitely the most creative – and one of the most brutal.

And my nominee for best NC-based political ad of all time:

“Ice Cream” – 2010, NC Senate

You might notice a recurring theme in this post: all of the earlier ads are negative ads. This one is the only positive one in the bunch, and that’s why it wins. It’s hard to make an ad that’s both positive and memorable. This ad, aired by Louis Pate in 2010 in his campaign against Don Davis, succeeded at both. Seriously, just watch it and be stunned to find out that 45% of people in the district actually had the gall to vote against Pate that year.

Those are all the notable campaign ads I can think of off the top of my head. The vast majority of these are from the last couple of years, as unfortunately many of the older ones aren’t available on YouTube. If anyone wants to mention a notable campaign ad that I’ve missed and is also available for viewing online, be sure to link it in the comments below.