Star Telegram.com: GOP pop-up Internet ads may win some, lose some

The Republican Party is testing out two pop-up ad creative messages for the presidential race, prompting Democrat opposition to despair that the move shows that "the party has more money than good ideas." Said a press secretary for the Democratic National Committee. "Clearly, if they wanted to, they could rent ad space on all the cows in Texas."

Pop-up ads have been shown to have immediate response effect that can often obscure negative branding impacts.

The Republican test uses both a positive Bush message, giving him credit for an improving economy, and a negative message, suggesting that Democratic candidate John Kerry is unsure or inconsistent with what he wants to do with the economy.