2026-08-31T09:00:29.408Z / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
CNN对竞选广告的分析发现，在全美各地以及整个政治光谱中，候选人都在迎合公众对人工智能及其所需基础设施日益高涨的反弹——这种反抗正在动摇从地方到最高国家公职的选举格局。
根据广告追踪公司AdImpact的数据，今年迄今已有超过3100万美元用于提及数据中心的政治广告，上月支出激增，当时广播电视竞选总支出中超过8%都投向了与数据中心或人工智能相关的广告。这一比例较去年不足1%的情况大幅上升。
这些来自两党候选人和团体的广告，绝大多数都在批评数据中心——今年超过99%的广告支出都用于抨击人工智能基础设施项目。
在密歇根州，一名国会候选人在一片农田拍摄了一则广告，他称这片农田面临被“一个将推高我们的电费、破坏我们房屋价值的大型数据中心”取代的风险。
在密苏里州郊区，争夺县行政长官职位的两名领先共和党候选人都将全部电视广告预算用于承诺阻止数据中心建设，并指责对方受开发商摆布。
而威斯康星州和加利福尼亚州的两位同名候选人最近都被对手戏称为“数据中心戴维”。
“数据中心之所以能引发独特的两党反对，很大程度上是因为这是一个非常本地化的问题，”美国创新基金会研究员丹尼尔·金表示。“无论在国家层面还是更大议题上的党派界限如何，双方都能切实抓住这一公众情绪峰值。”
联邦选举记录显示，面对这些铺天盖地的负面政治广告，人工智能行业相关的利益集团纷纷争相向关键竞选活动投入数百万美元。
但这些行业广告很少提及人工智能行业或基础设施。CNN的调查发现，一个部分由OpenAI高管资助的主要超级政治行动委员会今年花费数百万美元投放广告，但其所有广播电视广告中都未提及人工智能或数据中心。
在即将到来的争夺国会控制权的激烈中期选举中，广告支出数据表明两党都在疯狂地试图在这场关键的摇摆议题辩论中抢占正确立场。就连面临挑战的主要议员也在转向支持对数据中心实施更严格的监管，甚至暂停其建设。
“这本质上不是左右派议题，”市场研究机构益普索公共事务主席克利福德·杨表示。“它对所有人来说都是一个‘怪物’。它契合了公众认为体制已失灵的潜在信念。”
https://www.cnn.com/
随着支撑人工智能的计算机处理需求激增，科技巨头们争相斥资数千亿美元建设新基础设施——根据追踪公司Cleanview的数据，目前有超过2000个数据中心处于规划阶段。
直到最近，这种建设热潮在政治上还是个无关紧要的议题。AdImpact的数据库显示，2024年广播电视广告中没有一则提及数据中心，而在2025年的大部分时间里，只有少数广告讨论了这一问题，且主要出现在地方州级选举中。
但在过去一年里，公众情绪发生了翻天覆地的变化，背后是对该行业的怀疑以及对财产权、环境影响，尤其是飙升的电费的担忧。
高盛的一项分析预测，运行人工智能的数据中心使用的高性能计算芯片比上一代更耗能，可能导致全国范围内明年电费上涨6%，居住在数据中心附近的居民电价涨幅将最大。
福克斯新闻7月的一项民调显示，70%的选民反对在自家附近建设支持人工智能的数据中心。路透社/益普索6月的民调显示，59%的成年人表示反对在距离自家10英里范围内建设数据中心。本月发布的皮尤研究中心调查显示，“52%的美国人表示，他们对人工智能在日常生活中的更多应用感到担忧多于兴奋——2021年这一比例为37%”，绝大多数人预计人工智能会减少就业岗位。
两党政治家都注意到了这一转变——如今这一议题已成为今年中期选举一些最具影响力的竞选活动的核心议题。
主战场可能是俄亥俄州联邦参议员的关键竞选，民主党人谢罗德·布朗对阵共和党现任参议员乔恩·赫斯特德。
赫斯特德在担任副州长期间，在人工智能热潮之前就曾为俄亥俄州引进科技行业，当时这一问题相对没有争议。2019年，他称赞一个新建成的6亿美元谷歌数据中心是“对我们州的好消息”。根据数据中心地图追踪项目的数据，俄亥俄州目前拥有200多个数据中心，全国排名第六。
这成了布朗的攻击点。正如美国全国共和党参议员委员会最近获得的一份战略备忘录所概述的那样，该备忘录指出“新的因素（以及新的问题）就是数据中心”。
“布朗利用这一点是因为这招有效，”备忘录写道。“在这场竞选中，数据中心比其他任何因素都更是挂在赫斯特德脖子上的枷锁。”
根据AdImpact的数据，自7月以来，布朗的竞选团队已经为三个独立的电视广告投放了超过350万美元，这些广告反复抨击赫斯特德与数据中心的关联，广告播放次数达数千次。在广告中，布朗指责赫斯特德“是俄亥俄州拥有如此多数据中心的主要原因”，并承诺“要求数据中心全额支付用电成本，而不是由你们纳税人承担”。
“他被称为俄亥俄州数据中心的代言人，”布朗针对赫斯特德的一则广告说道。
赫斯特德试图调整立场。上月，他提出了“纳税人保护法案”，旨在限制数据中心对居民电费的影响。一名竞选发言人在一份声明中表示，赫斯特德认为“数据中心是，也应该继续是地方层面的决策”，并指责布朗在这一问题上反复无常。
在该州竞争激烈的州长竞选活动中，共和党人维韦克·拉马斯瓦米和民主党人艾米·阿克顿也争相推出多方面的计划，对科技公司实施严格监管并保护居民。
在威斯康星州，这场竞争激烈的州长选举中，数据中心也成为了一个决定性议题。尽管该州的数据中心数量远少于俄亥俄州，但也有多个大型项目，包括位于芒特普莱森特的占地315英亩的微软园区，该园区被吹捧为“全球最强大的人工智能数据中心”，以及甲骨文和OpenAI支持的位于波蒂奇华盛顿的占地672英亩的大型设施规划项目。
在一场势均力敌的民主党初选中，州议员弗朗西斯卡·洪明确支持暂停数据中心建设，将自己的立场与密尔沃基县行政长官戴维·克劳利更为温和的监管提议进行对比。“与其他候选人不同，我没有被企业收买，所以我会真正阻止人工智能数据中心，”洪在其中一则广告中说道。
克劳利胜出后，他的共和党对手、众议员汤姆·蒂凡尼接过了洪——一位民主社会主义者——的接力棒。他在一则竞选广告中将克劳利戏称为“数据中心戴维·克劳利”，并播放了克劳利吹嘘威斯康星州有潜力成为“全球人工智能和数据枢纽”的片段，以此攻击克劳利。蒂凡尼的广告宣传自己支持取消该行业的州税收优惠政策。
克劳利予以回击，承诺“追究数据中心的责任，让它们买单”，并批评蒂凡尼支持可能剥夺各州监管人工智能能力的立法（该条款最终从最终法案中删除）。
克劳利在一份声明中表示，“当我担任州长时，我将积极保护威斯康星州公民免受这些大型科技亿万富翁及其不受监管的数据中心的侵害。”
https://www.cnn.com/
数据中心反对运动也推动了全国其他草根候选人的当选。威尔·劳伦斯是一名气候活动家，他意外赢得密歇根州竞争激烈的第七国会选区民主党提名，他在电视广告中承诺“阻止人工智能数据中心”，并将自己的成功归功于对这一议题的聚焦。
同一天晚间，阿卜杜勒·埃尔赛义德赢得密歇根州联邦参议员民主党初选，他的竞选纲领包括针对数据中心的全面新标准。本月早些时候，埃尔赛义德的共和党对手、前众议员迈克·罗杰斯表示，他现在支持暂停建设新数据中心一年。
AdImpact的数据显示，这些广告战也蔓延到了最基层的选举层面。
今年早些时候，在密苏里州圣查尔斯县县行政长官共和党初选中，99%的广播电视竞选广告都提及了数据中心，两名领先候选人都指责对手支持数据中心建设提案。该县上月通过了一项为期六个月的大型数据中心建设暂停令，其最大的城市之一最近也禁止了新的开发项目。
“没人想住在巨型建筑旁边，”当地居民卡拉·埃姆斯说，她是抗议数据中心的人士之一。“民主党人和共和党人都能抓住这个议题。”
人工智能公司和行业盟友也在中期选举前争相扭转政治势头。
包括Meta、谷歌和知名风投公司Anthropic在内的科技巨头，以及顶尖人工智能高管已向超级政治行动委员会和非营利组织捐赠了超过1.9亿美元，这些组织迄今已在中期选举中花费超过6000万美元用于独立支出。
“引领未来”超级政治行动委员会从硅谷风投公司安德森·霍洛维茨筹得5000万美元，另从OpenAI总裁格雷格·布洛克曼及其妻子安娜处筹得2500万美元。根据联邦选举委员会的记录，截至6月，该委员会报告支出近4500万美元，通常用于支持对人工智能和数据中心监管持强硬立场的候选人。
在纽约州第十二国会选区拥挤的民主党初选中，该组织及其代理机构花费数百万美元攻击州议员亚历克斯·博雷斯，后者曾在州议会领导一项监管该行业的创新性法案。博雷斯最终输给了议员迈卡·拉舍。
值得注意的是，“引领未来”的广告从未提及人工智能或数据中心。AdImpact的追踪数据显示，其两个代理机构“美国使命”和“大思考”今年迄今已在全美各地的竞选活动中花费总计800万美元用于广播电视广告，但没有一则提及人工智能或数据中心。相反，它们将候选人吹捧为“久经考验的斗士”，或突出前总统唐纳德·特朗普的背书。
同样，由Meta和谷歌资助的“加州领先”组织已花费超过150万美元用于广播电视广告，支持州议会选举中的温和派候选人，但也避免提及科技、人工智能或数据中心。
有一家行业巨头采取了不同的做法。由Anthropic资助4000万美元的非营利倡导组织“公共第一行动”表示，其支持旨在保障安全和负责任发展的强有力人工智能监管措施，该组织及其附属的超级政治行动委员会在本届选举周期中已花费超过1000万美元用于广告。
该组织支持博雷斯等议员，并直接针对人工智能政策投放广告，比如为得克萨斯州共和党众议员纳撒尼尔·莫兰制作的一则广告，宣传他提出的加强人工智能监管的法案。旁白说道：“没有任何技术应该比它所服务的民众更强大。”
其他几家科技巨头则在选举热潮之外，投放了更多一般性广告，以宣传其数据中心项目创造的就业机会。
2025年，Meta花费超过600万美元用于广播电视广告，宣传其在爱荷华州和新墨西哥州的数据中心创造的就业岗位。最近，甲骨文也投放了类似的广告，画面中年轻女性在咖啡馆里直接对着镜头谈论公司新项目带来的新就业岗位和投资。
“这是一个建设得当的数据中心，”其中几则广告中的一位女发言人说道。
https://www.cnn.com/
现任官员们正紧急采取行动，避免因选民对人工智能的担忧而受到指责。几位寻求连任的知名州长已响应呼吁，支持暂停和禁止数据中心建设——这形成了奇怪的政治盟友关系。
得克萨斯州共和党州长格雷格·阿博特和纽约州民主党州长凯西·霍楚尔都支持暂停数据中心建设的法案——在这两个经济体庞大的大州，这一举措尤其意义重大。
霍楚尔于7月签署了一项为期一年的大型数据中心建设暂停令，这是全美首个此类禁令。她在一次活动中解释称，此举将在“或许是历史上最重大的经济动荡”期间“为我们争取喘息空间”。
和赫斯特德一样，阿博特曾是科技行业的关键盟友——在其三届州长任期内，帮助得克萨斯州发展成为拥有537个数据中心的全国领先州，仅次于弗吉尼亚州。如今，他支持暂停新数据中心建设，待对其电力和水资源使用情况进行审计后再做决定。“简而言之，得克萨斯州民众必须优先，”他表示。
他的立场转变表明，即使是传统上支持商业的共和党人，其激励因素也在发生变化。
潜在的总统候选人，比如宾夕法尼亚州民主党州长乔希·夏皮罗，也在转变立场。2025年，他欢迎亚马逊200亿美元的投资，称该州“全面投入人工智能”。本月，他却宣布了一项限制数据中心发展的行政命令，取消快速审批程序并扩大审查流程——尽管他没有直接下令全面禁止。夏皮罗指责数据中心建设者“恐吓我们的社区，对乡镇官员咄咄逼人”，并且“欺凌我们的邻居”。
为了巩固自己的立场转变，他本月发起了一则针对共和党对手斯泰西·加里蒂的攻击广告，重播了加里蒂说“我们可以成为人工智能领域的领导者”的片段。
地缘政治也推动了这场辩论。国防鹰派和其他关注与中国竞争的安全-minded议员认为，限制数据中心发展可能会损害美国的进步，丧失在这一关键领域的领导地位。本月在密歇根州的竞选活动中，众议院共和党议长迈克·约翰逊表示，“全面暂停数据中心建设目前是一种危险的做法。”
而特朗普尽管热衷于民粹主义，却站在了数据中心支持者和人工智能加速发展派的立场上。“其中许多设计得非常漂亮，”这位总统本月早些时候评论道。“这确实非常积极。”
但他也直言不讳地指出，“我得说，它们或许需要一点公关帮助。”
Voters hate data centers. Candidates from both parties are scrambling to respond
2026-08-31T09:00:29.408Z / CNN
Across the country and the political spectrum, candidates are embracing a growing backlash to artificial intelligence and the infrastructure required to power it – a resistance shaking up races from the local level to the highest national offices, a CNN analysis of campaign ads found.
More than $31 million has been spent on political ads mentioning data centers so far this year, spiking last month, when more than 8% of all campaign spending on broadcast TV went to data center or AI-related spots, according to tracking from the firm AdImpact. That’s up significantly from less than 1% of ads last year.
Those ads, which came from candidates and groups of both political parties, were united in their overwhelming criticism of data centers – more than 99% of the spending this year went to spots against AI infrastructure projects.
In Michigan, a congressional hopeful filmed an ad from a farm field he said was at risk of being replaced by “a massive data center that’ll jack up our energy bills and ruin our home values.”
In suburban Missouri, both leading GOP candidates for a county executive seat spent their entire TV ad budgets vowing to stop data centers and accusing each other of being beholden to developers.
And two different candidates in Wisconsin and California who happen to share a first name have both recently been mocked as “Data Center David” by their opponents.
“Data centers have picked up a unique bipartisan opposition in large part because they are so local as an issue,” said Daniel King, a research fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation. “Regardless of where party lines fall at the national level or on larger issues, both sides have been able to really pick up the spike.”
Facing that onslaught of negative political advertising, interest groups related to the AI industry have scrambled to pour millions into key races, federal election records show.
Yet those industry ads rarely discuss the AI industry or infrastructure. One major super PAC funded in part by an OpenAI executive bought millions in ads this year without mentioning AI or data centers in any of its broadcast spots, CNN’s review found.
In the lead-up to a bruising midterm battle for control of Congress, the data on ad spending points to a frantic rush by both parties to position themselves correctly on a critical jump-ball debate. Even major lawmakers who aren’t facing challenges are tacking toward more restrictive rules on data centers or even moratoriums on their construction.
“It isn’t intrinsically a right or left issue,” said Clifford Young, the chair of research firm Ipsos Public Affairs. “It’s a boogeyman for everyone. It plays into this underlying belief that the system is broken.”
https://www.cnn.com/
As demand for the computer processing that powers artificial intelligence has skyrocketed, big tech companies are scrambling to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on new infrastructure – including on more than 2,000 data centers in planning stages, according to the tracking firm Cleanview.
Until recently, that construction boom was a political non-issue. In 2024, there wasn’t a single election ad on broadcast TV that mentioned data centers, according to AdImpact’s database, and in most of 2025, only a handful discussed them, largely in down-ballot state races.
But over the last year, there’s been a tectonic shift in public sentiment, driven by skepticism about the industry and concerns over property rights, environmental impacts and especially spiking utility bills.
The data centers that run AI use powerful computing chips that are more energy-intensive than previous generations, which could lead to a 6% rise in electricity bills nationally over the next year, a Goldman Sachs analysis projected, with the biggest jumps for those living near data centers.
A Fox News poll in July found 70% of voters oppose building data centers in their area to support AI. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll from June, 59% of adults said they’d oppose a data center being built within 10 miles of their home. And a Pew Research survey released this month found “52% of Americans say they are more concerned than excited about the increased use of AI in daily life – up from 37% in 2021,” with a large majority expecting AI to decrease the number of jobs.
Politicians from both parties have taken note of that shift – and the issue has now moved to center stage in some of the most impactful races in this year’s midterms.
The front line might be a key race for US Senate in Ohio between Democrat Sherrod Brown and GOP Sen. Jon Husted.
In his previous role as lieutenant governor, Husted recruited the tech industry to Ohio – pre-AI boom, when the issue was relatively uncontroversial. In 2019, he hailed a new $600 million Google data center as “great news for our state.” Ohio is now home to more than 200 data centers, according to the Data Center Map tracking project, ranking sixth nationally.
That’s fueling Brown’s attacks, as outlined in a recent National Republican Senatorial Committee strategy memo obtained by CNN, which notes that “the new ingredient (and the new problem) is data centers.”
“Brown is using it because it works,” the memo notes. “More than any other thing in this race, data centers are the anchor hanging around Husted’s neck.”
Since July, Brown’s campaign has put more than $3.5 million behind three separate TV spots hammering Husted on data centers, per AdImpact, running thousands of times. In the ads, Brown blames Husted as a “a chief reason Ohio has so many data centers,” and pledges to “require the data centers pay the full cost of their electricity, not you.”
“He’s been called the face of data centers in Ohio,” says one ad from Brown targeting Husted.
Husted has tried to recalibrate. Last month, he introduced the “Ratepayer Protection Act,” legislation aimed at limiting data centers’ impact on residential electric bills. In a statement, a campaign spokesperson said that Husted believes “data centers are, and should remain, a local decision,” and accused Brown of flip-flopping on the issue.
In the state’s competitive race for governor, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy and Democrat Amy Acton have also strained to outdo each other with multi-point plans imposing strict regulations on tech companies and protections for residents.
In Wisconsin, with its own hotly contested gubernatorial race, data centers have also become a defining issue. Though it has far fewer data centers than Ohio, Wisconsin hosts several massive developments, including a 315-acre Microsoft campus in Mount Pleasant touted as “the world’s most powerful AI datacenter,” and plans for a sprawling 672-acre facility in Port Washington, backed by Oracle and OpenAI.
In a close Democratic primary, state Rep. Francesca Hong emphatically backed a data center moratorium, contrasting her stance with Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley’s more measured regulation pitch. “Unlike the other candidates, I’m not bought by corporations, so I’ll actually stop AI data centers,” Hong said in one of her ads.
After Crowley prevailed, his Republican opponent, Rep. Tom Tiffany, picked up where Hong – a democratic socialist – left off. He’s hammered Crowley over data centers with a campaign ad nicknaming him “Data Center David Crowley,” featuring a clip of him touting Wisconsin’s potential to be “an AI and a data hub … for the entire globe.” Tiffany’s ad touts his support for eliminating state tax incentives for the industry.
Crowley has hit back by vowing to “hold data centers accountable and make them pay,” and criticizing Tiffany’s support for legislation that could have preempted states’ ability to regulate AI (language which was dropped from the final bill).
In a statement, Crowley said that “when I’m governor, I am going to aggressively protect Wisconsin citizens from the abuses of these big tech billionaires and their unregulated data centers.”
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Data center resistance has powered other grassroots candidates nationally. Will Lawrence, a climate activist who unexpectedly won the Democratic nomination in Michigan’s toss-up 7th District, ran TV ads pledging to “stop AI data centers,” and credited that focus for his success.
Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary the same night as Lawrence, campaigning on extensive new standards for data centers. And earlier this month, El-Sayed’s GOP opponent, former Rep. Mike Rogers, said he now supports a one-year moratorium on building new data centers.
These advertising battles are also playing out on the most local levels, the AdImpact data shows.
In the GOP primary for county executive of St. Charles County, Missouri, earlier this year, 99% of campaign spending on broadcast TV mentioned data centers, with both leading candidates accusing their rival of supporting data center proposals. The county last month passed a six-month moratorium on large-scale data centers and one of its largest cities recently banned new developments.
“No one wants to live next to a giant behemoth,” said Kara Elms, a local resident who was among those protesting the data centers. “Both Democrats and Republicans can jump on that issue.”
AI companies and industry allies are also lining up to shift the political momentum before the midterms.
Tech giants like Meta, Google and Anthropic, a prominent venture capital firm, and top AI executives have donated more than $190 million to super PACs and nonprofits that have spent over $60 million on independent expenditures in the midterm elections so far.
Super PAC Leading The Future has taken in $50 million from the Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, plus another $25 million from OpenAI president Greg Brockman and his wife, Anna. Through June, it’s reported spending nearly $45 million, often directed at candidates taking a hard line on AI and data center regulation, according to Federal Election Commission records.
In the crowded Democratic primary for New York’s 12th congressional district, the group and its proxies spent millions against state Assemblyman Alex Bores, who led a novel effort to regulate the industry in the state legislature. He lost the nomination to Assemblyman Micah Lasher.
Notably, Leading the Future’s ads have avoided AI or data centers. While two of its proxy groups, American Mission and Think Big, have spent a combined $8 million on broadcast TV ads in races around the country so far this year, none have mentioned AI or data centers, AdImpact’s tracking shows. Instead, they’ve touted candidates as a “proven fighter” or highlighted endorsements from President Donald Trump.
Similarly, California Leads, a group funded by Meta and Google, has spent more than $1.5 million on broadcast ads supporting moderate candidates in state legislative elections, but avoided mentioning tech, AI or data centers.
One industry heavyweight has taken a different approach. Public First Action, a nonprofit advocacy group backed by $40 million from Anthropic, says it supports robust AI regulations aimed at safety and responsible development, and has spent more than $10 million along with affiliated super PACs on ads this cycle.
It has boosted lawmakers like Bores, and addressed AI policy head-on, such as one ad for Texas GOP Rep. Nathaniel Moran highlighting his bill to increase AI regulations. “No technology should be more powerful than the people it serves,” a voiceover declared.
Several other tech giants have been airing more general ads to encourage support for their data center projects outside of the fever pitch of election contests.
In 2025, Meta spent more than $6 million on broadcast ads promoting jobs created by its data centers in Iowa and New Mexico. More recently, Oracle aired similar ads, featuring young women in coffeeshops talking directly into the camera about new jobs and investments that come with the company’s new projects.
“It’s a data center, done right,” a spokeswoman declared in several of the ads.
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Politicians already in office are urgently moving to avoid blame from voters alarmed by AI. Several prominent governors eyeing upcoming reelection have embraced calls for data center pauses and moratoriums – creating strange political bedfellows.
Both the Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, and the Democratic governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, have backed versions of a data center pause – particularly consequential in their large states with major economies.
Hochul signed a one-year moratorium on new large-scale data centers in July, the first of its kind in the nation, explaining at an event that the move would “give us some breathing room” amid perhaps “the most significant economic upheaval in history.”
Abbott, like Husted, was once a key industry ally – helping grow Texas into a national leader with 537 data centers, second only to Virginia, during his three terms as governor. Now, he favors pausing construction on new data centers pending an audit of their electricity and water usage. “Simply put, Texans must come first,” he said.
His pivot illustrates the changing incentives, even for traditionally business-friendly Republicans.
Potential presidential hopefuls like Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro are also shifting. In 2025, he welcomed a $20 billion investment from Amazon, remarking that his state was “all in on AI.” Now, this month, he announced an executive order restricting the development of data centers, eliminating fast-track approvals and expanding the review process – though he stopped short of an outright ban. Shapiro accused data center builders of “scaring our communities, being aggressive with township officials,” and “bullying our neighbors.”
Cementing his pivot, he launched an attack ad this month against GOP opponent Stacy Garrity, replaying clips of her saying that “we could be the leader in AI.”
Geopolitics is also driving the conversation. Defense hawks and other security-minded lawmakers focused on competition with China argue that limiting data center development could harm American progress and forfeit leadership in the critical sector. On the campaign trail in Michigan this month, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said that “a broad moratorium against data centers is kind of a dangerous prospect right now.”
And Trump, despite his penchant for populism, has taken a position as a data center advocate and AI accelerationist. “Many of them are designed in a very beautiful way,” the president commented earlier this month. “It’s really very positive.”
But with characteristic bluntness, he also noted, “I would say that maybe it could use a little public relations help.”