Democrats show TV the money
Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have spent more than $21 million on television advertising in the past two weeks, outspending the remaining Republican presidential contenders by more than 3-to-1. Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul have spent slightly more than $6.3 million since January 21, with McCain and Romney accounting for most of that amount. The new spending totals, compiled by TNS Media Intelligence/CMAG, CNN's consultant on political ad spending, also shows that Obama is the new overall leader in television ad spending. Obama has laid out more than $31 million for campaign commercials -- $12 million since January 21 -- in his battle with Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination. Romney, who was the spending leader on ads for the past year, has invested more than $30 million on campaign commercials, $3.5 million in the past two weeks. Clinton has spent $24.6 million this election cycle on TV ads -- more than $9 million in the past 14 days. Obama spent several million to air a spot on local Fox affiliates during Sunday's Super Bowl; Fox didn't accept political ads for national broadcast during the game. "He is putting his money to work," Evan Tracey, CMAG's chief operating officer, said of Obama. "He has turned up the volume, not only in the February 5th states but beyond." More than 20 states are holding presidential nominating contests on what is being called "Super Tuesday." The campaigns are already looking beyond Tuesday in what is expected to be an extended battle for the party nominations. In the Republican contest, front-runner McCain has spent more than $8.5 million on TV campaign ads ($2.4 million in the last two weeks), while Huckabee spent slightly more than $2.9 million on TV ads ($300,000 since January 21), and Paul has spent a total of $3 million (more than $166,000 in the past two weeks). So far, more than $169 million has been spent by candidates and special interest groups on television campaign ads this election cycle -- an all-time record. |
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