HOME /  Damned Spot :  Political ads dissected and explained.

John Edwards' Bad Edit

The candidate's video sleight of hand.

Updated Thursday, March 8, 2007, at 7:26 AM

John Edwards is serious about health care. In fact, his proposal for revamping America's chaotic health-care system is more serious and detailed than any of the other candidates' plans. But when Edwards sent out a campaign video to 70,000 Iowa voters earlier this week, something caught our eye—a bit of video-editing trickery that made Edwards appear to be talking about medical care when he was really talking about Iraq.

Click on the video screen to play John Dickerson's Damned Spot about Edwards' switcheroo.

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Andy Bowers is the Executive Producer of Slate Podcast.

John Dickerson is Slate's chief political correspondent and author of On Her Trail. He can be reached at slatepolitics@gmail.com. Read his series on the presidency and his series on risk. Follow him on Twitter.

Jim Festante is an actor and writer in Los Angeles. He's written and hosted video game segments for Slate V and Revision3's The Game Show (www.revision3.com/thegameshow).