Anonymous Creator of "1984" Hillary Clinton Ad Unmasked

The creator of the "1984" commercial attacking Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton (to the benefit of Barack Obama), is anonymous no more. Philip de Vellis, who works for the advertising firm Blue State Digital, has been unmasked as the creator, and according to the firm, "terminated."

Blue State Digital has an Internet advertising contract with the Obama campaign, but both the company - and Obama representatives - stressed that the Internet posting was done completely outside the scope of the campaign, without their knowledge. Bill Burton, a spokesman for Obama, said the campaign "had no knowledge and had nothing to do with the creation of the ad." He also added that the Obama campaign had been told by Blue State Digital that de Vellis had done "no work on [Obama's] campaign account."

Blue State Digital has also released a statement. "Pursuant to company policy regarding outside political work or commentary on behalf of our clients or otherwise, Mr. de Vellis has been terminated from Blue State Digital effective immediately."

The identity of the ad's creator was revealed on Wednesday at Arianna Huffington's blog, the Huffington Post. She chimed in on what the ad's immediate popularity will mean for campaigns from now on. "The 2008 campaign is going to be dramatically different because of YouTube, because of citizen involvement, and because of people like Phil de Vellis doing an ad that becomes explosively viral."

After Huffington Post regulars squirreled out de Vellis' identity, he was contacted by Huffington, who offered him the chance to explain himself, which he did at length.

"There are thousands of other people who could have made this ad, and I guarantee that more ads like it - by people of all political persuasions - will follow," De Vellis wrote. "This shows that the future of American politics rests in the hands of ordinary citizens."

De Vellis says that the ad was produced during a Sunday afternoon, using a Mac and some video editing software. He says the "underlying point was that the old political machine no longer holds all the power. The game has changed."