'Action!' US campaign videos go viral in 2018

An eye-popping USD 4.5 billion is projected to pour into US political advertising in 2018, but a few thousand bucks last spring may have been the best-spent money of the entire midterm election cycle.

When working-class New Yorker and political newcomer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez heard the offer by two socialist-leaning videographers to produce her introductory congressional campaign ad for under USD 10,000, her cash-strapped campaign jumped at the opportunity.

The result was a riveting, two-minute online video, with a persuasive voiceover by the then-28-year-old candidate who is shown changing into heels on a subway platform and making her case to voters.

"This race is about people versus money," Ocasio-Cortez says in the video released in late May.

"We've got people. They've got money."
"By having a strong social media presence, by coming out with effective messaging, by staying on point and talking about working-class politics, you can topple these people, you know?"
Broadway superstar Lin Manuel Miranda branded it "the best political ad anyone's ever seen."