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Getting NakedWhat a frankly political campaign ad might look like.

By Jeff GreenfieldPosted Thursday, Jan. 31, 2008, at 12:58 PM ET

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I'm Charlie Rangel. I've been in Congress for 35 years. I guess that makes me a politician. I've seen a lot of good ideas die in this town—because the folks who thought them up didn't know how to fight for them … didn't know how to face down the people who stood in the way.
But then Bill and Hillary Clinton came to town, and their enemies hit them with everything they had, and you know what? They stood—and fought—and won more than their share of those fights. So, we got family and medical leave … and the Earned Income Tax Credit … and the first jump in real income for average workers in more than 20 years.
Now Sen. Clinton is running for president. More than any candidate ever, she knows what she's up against, she knows how tough the fight will be. And she knows how to win. Politics is a contact sport—maybe it shouldn't be, but it is. And if we Democrats want to do the things this country needs, we damn well better pick a candidate who gives as good as she gets—and more.

Good one. But for me, the most intriguing possibility lies with the Obama campaign. Sen. Obama has won support from a remarkable number of Red State Democrats. Currently, these politicians—Gov. Kathy Sebelius of Kansas, Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona—are on the air in their home states, with more or less conventional pitches. The ad I imagine features them and other Red State Democrats in ads aimed at the Blue States with Super Tuesday primaries—California, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts.

It would go something like this:

—I'm Janet Napolitano, Democratic governor of Arizona—a state Bush won twice.
—I'm Kathleen Sebelius, Democratic governor of Kansas—a state Bush won twice.
—I'm Claire McKaskill, Democratic Senator from Missouri—a state Bush won twice.
If Al Gore had won any of our states in 2000, there never would have been a Bush presidency. Instead, Democrats lost the last two presidential elections because our candidates couldn't compete in our states, and too many others.
Any Democrat can win in your deep blue state. But to win the White House, we need someone who can win our states, too. We believe that candidate is Barack Obama.
—We think so, too. I'm Tim Kaine, governor of Virgnia, where Bush won twice. And I'm Ben Nelson, Democratic senator from Nebraska, where Bush won twice.
Please: Give us a Democratic candidate who can win the states that will decide who wins the White House. Give us Barack Obama.

I know full well that it's way easier to suggest ads from the safety of the sidelines; and the campaigns may have good reason for declining. But in a campaign that has stirred more interest in politics than any in memory, maybe it's time for the practitioners to make ads that are about just that.