Billboard Battles Take Over Twin Cities

Delegates to the Republican National Convention at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, MN, have been greeted with a billboard showing McCain and Bush hugging. The Democratic National Committee paid for the billboard that shows the message, "Does this look like change to you?"

• Talk About It:
  What Do You Think of the Billboard Ban?
• Billboard Controversy:
  See Opton's Banned Billboard
• McCain Camp Releases Commercial:
  Ad Shows Biden's Remarks About Obama
• Obama Chooses Online Advertising:
  Google Gets Most of Obama's Ad Budget

More billboards were planned from other sources but those contracts were yanked days before the convention started. Photographer Suzanne Opton planned on showing five different billboards of American soldiers' faces like the one shown in Denver before the Democratic National Convention.

More on the Banned Billboards:

CBS Outdoor canceled Opton's contract in Minneapolis. A spokesperson for CBS Outdoor calls the photos "haunting," adding that the close-up of heads with a blank stare, "clearly looked to us like they were representing deceased solders." The outdoor advertising company deemed them inappropriate for its billboards.

Minnesota's Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board pulled the plug on a mobile anti-war video billboard from True Blue Minnesota. In a close vote, the board decided that the billboard's size was too large and that there were concerns over traffic safety. True Blue Minnesota planned to show documentaries, YouTube videos, art and pictures on the video billboard during the Republican National Convention.

What do you think of the decisions to ban Opton's and True Blue Minnesota's billboards? Share your opinion.