Claim: Ad Attacking Obama For Canceled Troop Visit Mainly Intended For Media

[deminks]

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/ad_attacking_obama_for_cancele.php

Okay, this is interesting: It looks as if the new McCain ad falsely attacking Obama over his canceled troop visit may not really have a lot of money behind it, suggesting that its real purpose isn't getting it before voters directly.

Rather, the real target audience may be the media -- meaning that the McCain camp's goal is largely to get the ad debated in the press and to drive the conversation that way.

Evan Tracey, who tracks media buys at the Campaign Media Intelligence Group, took a look at the McCain buys and discovered that an earlier McCain foreign policy attack ad, as well as the troop visit attack spot launched this weekend, are running in almost no battleground-state markets, with the new spot only running in Denver and Washington, D.C.:

"They're probably one part ads and one part press release," he said of the two spots. "I don't think these are in any part cornerstones to his message these days -- I think they're really designed to get in the press."

(end snip)

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0708/Tracey_Small_buy_for_two_negative_ads.html?showall

This IS very interesting. The media play it non stop beginning to end.

[qazplm]

1. just like

some of the swift boat ads, they also barely played anywhere.

[MonkeyFunk]

2. Of course

that's how it's done nowadays, and both sides take advantage of it.