Candidates spend $28 million on ads

by Whitney Trotta

Thursday, October 9, 2008 00:00

The two leading presidential candidates spent $28 million on nationwide television advertising last week, nearly doubling the amount they spent the previous week.

Nearly 100 percent of television advertisements Republican presidential candidate John McCain ran were negative, compared to one-third of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s, according to the Wisconsin Advertising Project.

The report, compiled between Sept. 28 and Oct. 4, also showed Obama is outspending McCain in every state except Minnesota and Iowa.

The fact that the candidates are both spending a significant amount of money in so many states reflects how tight of a race this election is, according to University of Wisconsin political science professor Ken Goldstein, who conducted the study.

Goldstein said Obama decided to skip federal funds and instead raise money on his own, which has given him a slight advantage over McCain who opted for federal support, allowing Obama to spend as much whenever and wherever he wants.

Goldstein said Obama’s spending in certain states may not be necessary.

“Obama probably doesn’t need to outspend him (in Minnesota and Iowa) in order to win those states,” Goldstein said.

More than half of all spending went to the battleground states in the Midwest, including Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. These states have received multiple visits from the candidates and have garnered significant attention from both parties throughout the election.

Matt Lehrich, deputy communications director for the Wisconsin Obama Campaign, said the report shows McCain has been running a negative campaign.

“The revelation in this (report) is that this last week McCain has been running 100 percent negative ads, which I have to point out is quite a difference from only 34 percent,” said Lehrich.

Throughout the election, McCain has used negative advertisements 73 percent of the time as opposed to 61 percent of Obama advertisements.

In the 2004 presidential election, Republican nominee George W. Bush aired 64 percent negative advertisements, and Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry ran negative advertisements 34 percent of the time.

“Obama’s attack ads have been equally, if not more, damaging to their falsehood, but McCain’s ads are very well justified and point out the fallacies of Obama,” said Mark Bednar, co-chair of UW Students for McCain.

Bednar said McCain’s negative ads are necessary to point out the shortcomings of Obama’s record and plans for the future, and added 100 percent negative advertising is too much, and doesn’t allow McCain to show the good things he can do.