Al Gore's nonprofit Alliance for Climate Protection has just rolled out a new ad with a huge buy for the Olympics. Their still-running prior set of videos--featuring Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich, country and city, surfers and cowboys, etc.--were pretty effective in promoting a bipartisan vision with a focus on pragmatic solutions (and just the right tinge of American exceptionalism to deter a backlash). Here's the new spot:

I also want to give credit to this really cool-looking Chevy Volt commercial, also airing during the Olympics. The Volt, which is designed to drive 40 miles before needing a single gallon of gas, has been in the pipeline for what seems like forever, but finally Chevrolet has a price point incentive to get the darn thing onto consumer radar and out on the road. Hence this approach, with intense focus on one gasoline station.

I don't really buy the last few seconds of the ad (the endgame might look more like this), and the road to plug in vehicles runs right through our aging power grid, and the regulations that keep it segregated, state by state--but I dig the march-of-time visuals, which leaves the viewer wanting more for a whole minute. And when more is clean, efficient hybrids--made by American auto companies--that's progress.

--Dayo Olopade