WSJ: Obama Is Catching Up to McCain In Television-Ad Spending
By AARON RUTKOFF
July 11, 2008; Page A5
In the three weeks since Barack Obama launched his first general-election television ad he has all but erased John McCain's three-month headstart in ad spending on the airwaves.
The McCain campaign has spent more, with an estimated $15 million spent on TV since late March, according to figures compiled by TNS Media Intelligence/Campaign Media Analysis Group. But the Obama team is making up for its later arrival to the contest by spending money on TV spots at a much faster clip than its rival.
Since June 20, when the Illinois senator introduced a post-primary ad emphasizing his working-class roots and family links to the Midwest, he has spent an estimated $11 million. The Obama campaign has increased ad spending to $650,000 a day, exceeding the $175,000 daily rate of the McCain team, according to media analyst Evan Tracey, the chief operating officer at CMAG. "At that speed, Obama will have caught up by next week," Mr. Tracey said....
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Confidence in his campaign finances has allowed Sen. Obama to expand the advertising battleground further afield than recent presidential contests have ventured, into states such as Alaska, Montana and North Carolina. Sen. McCain's messages haven't appeared yet in any of those states.
"In 2004, virtually all the dollars were spent in swing states," said Republican strategist Whit Ayres, president of Virginia-based Ayres, McHenry & Associates Inc. "In 2008, the Obama campaign is spending its resources in states that are thought to be Republican." The McCain team isn't yet on the air locally in all the core swing states. In Florida, the Obama campaign has spent an estimated $2 million, according to CMAG. "And McCain hasn't spent a nickel," said Mr. Tracey.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121573238606944141.html
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