Kerry TV ads outpace Bush's

[cal04]

Sen. John Kerry's campaign and groups opposed to President Bush have run almost twice as many TV ads in closely contested states as the Bush-Cheney campaign. That is the opposite of what many political experts predicted before March, when Kerry emerged as the likely Democratic candidate for president.

The gap could grow by the July 26 start of the Democratic National Convention. This month, the Kerry campaign plans to spend $18 million on TV ads, outpacing the Bush campaign by about $10 million. Kerry's ads include the first one spotlighting his running mate, Sen. John Edwards (news - web sites), D-N.C.

"It was supposed to be 'poor John Kerry,' or 'poor Democrats, they'll be overwhelmed by a Bush money machine' " that would saturate 16 to 20 competitive states with TV ads, says Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

USA TODAY obtained data collected by TNS Media Intelligence/Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks political ads. The data, covering 17 closely contested states from March 3 through June 26, show:

• The Kerry campaign's ads were shown 72,908 times, 3.1% more than the Bush-Cheney campaign's 70,688 showings.

• Political groups' ads were shown 56,627 times. All but 513 were ads by liberal, anti-Bush groups such as MoveOn PAC and The Media Fund. The others were by conservative groups.

Taken together, about 129,000 Kerry or anti-Bush ads were aired, 82% more than the Bush-Cheney total.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=676&e=1&u=/usatoday/20040712/ts_usatoday/kerrytvadsoutpacebushs

[fujiyama]

1. I've heard more Kerry ads

than Bush ads here in MI. I used to hear ONLY Bush ads for a while.

Sure enough though, Kerry has been doing well in the state (up against Bush by 5-7 pts or so). His ads are also much more effective and upbeat than Bush's ads.

However, won't this be tough to keep up? Especially in that period immediately following the convention? If Kerry decides to opt with the matching funds, it seems like it'll be much tougher to be anywhere near Bush in terms of ads. In Kerry's case these ads may have saved him to some extent because they were well done.

[billybob537]

2. Hey $HRUB kiss your

whistle ass goodbye

[Monte Carlo]

3. Wow, who knew the Democrats could out-blitz the GOP with ads?

Living in MA as I do, a Democratic-safe state if there ever was one, I've only seen a handful of these campaign ads.

But of what I've seen, both camps talk about John Kerry, one for, one against. Ultimately, I think this will work in Kerry's favor because what he needs right now is publicity, and there's no such thing as bad publicity.

[osaMABUSh]

4. "All but 513 were ads by liberal, anti-Bush groups" 99% !

"Political groups' ads were shown 56,627 times. All but 513 were ads by liberal, anti-Bush groups" That is, 99% of the political group ads were pro-Kerry!

I read a month ago that the repuke groups were going to launch a bunch of ads to counter MoveOn.org, etc. - so much for that theory!

Apparently, the only organization that the repukes have is BC '04 who is getting all their money, yet, Kerry is keeping pace with them directly and far exceeding them indirectly with the political groups added.

[spooky3]

5. Kerry needs to show more here in VA. Bush is.

[jacksonian]

6. better be this way

Kerry's spending will have to slow down after the convention as he takes public funds and the spending limits that go with that. * will have an extra month before his convention and his limits kick in - i.e., Bush is saving his powder and Kerry is using his.

It's all just posturing until Labor Day when the real stuff begins.