Of course there were many reasons that he won, but many people think the Daisy ad had a lot to do with LBJ's landslide. I was very young, but I remember the horrible fear of nuclear war at that time. Johnson's campaign ad capitalized on that fear by insinuating that Goldwater would start WWIII if elected. The ad was only broadcast one time, but it definitely caused a big backlash against Goldwater. And the more Goldwater tried to refute it, the more unstable and risky he looked. Hillary Clinton tried something similar in the 2008 primaries, but it backfired on her.

anyhoo, I was just using this as one example of the enormous power that an ad or slogan can have, even (especially) if its negative or unpleasant. The same might be true of some of the anti-car ads. Or maybe not. But anybody who has been alive a while, like yourself, or has studied some history, is aware that political slogans can be very powerful indeed.

Why do you think it's so awful for people to exercise their first amendment right to persuade others to join a cause that they believe in? And why do you use ad hominem attacks (like smug and presumptuous) rather than refuting their ideas on their own merits?