Well, the new official meme is that it is Medvedev v. Putin, if not officially then unofficially, for 2012.  If Medvedev was campaigning in the United States, we would already be deep into the campaign ad season, so he has some catching up to do.  That’s why I have decided to lend a hand to our electorally-challenged brethren in Russia by throwing together a Medvedev campaign ad prototype (obviously the production value is a bit low).  Do I think we will see such ads in Russia soon? Nope, but it would be a lot cooler if we did.