“Say it with a kiss.” Hershey’s.
“Ask yourself: Can we afford John McCain?” That’s Barack Obama.
“Relieve your worst cold symptoms fast.” TheraFlu.
“Obama. Blind ambition. Bad judgment.” McCain.
“Fight for the bright.” Cheer detergent.
Whew.
So many messages, so little chance for political candidates to make sure theirs are heard.
During the campaign’s final weeks, people in battlegrounds like this one are pounded with paid partisan pitches as candidates, interest groups and political parties make their last pleas to voters — competing with the usual mix of ads for commercial products.
In contested areas like Columbus, the political ads — for local initiatives, state legislative races, congressional contests and the presidential race — multiply in the final homestretch.
The impact might seem questionable. Images and slogans blur with competing political spots and consumer pitches. But the candidates clearly think it’s worth the money. A lot of money.
Obama is financially outpacing McCain here and elsewhere. He seems to be running three or more ads in this competitive state to every one for McCain.
The Illinois senator is so flush with cash that he can even afford an ultra-expensive 30-minute prime time national spot on major networks.
For the week ending Oct. 12, Obama spent at least $30 million nationally to about $14 million for McCain and the Republican National Committee combined. Here in the Columbus market, Obama doled out $425,000 to $260,000 for McCain and the RNC, according to ad-tracking firm TNS Media Intelligence/Campaign Media Analysis Group.
Obama is airing at least five different ads here, a mix of positive messages promoting his biography and plans, as well as negative messages assail his rival. McCain appears to be airing only one commercial in Columbus and it criticizes Obama and his fellow Democrats. Nationally, roughly one-third of Obama’s ads attack McCain directly while virtually all of McCain’s ads go after Obama, according to a recent study by the Wisconsin Advertising Project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Going back to the primaries, people have been inundated with political ads in some places all year with hardly a reprieve.
A Day On The Tube
An Associated Press reporter spent a recent day channel surfing to get a sense of what viewers see on TV in a highly competitive state with 20 electoral votes at stake.
Ads for the biggest and hottest race, the presidential campaign, flash across the screen on different channels several times an hour; Obama’s are far more frequent than McCain’s.
In some, Obama says “we just can’t afford more of the same” while McCain and Bush are shown together.
“On taxes, who’s on your side?” another says — and answers that McCain is not.
Still another shows a ball of red yarn to illustrate health care unraveling under McCain.
Obama promotes his health care plan in one positive spot. Another is steeped in Americana, with Obama noting: “My grandfather would say, ‘Boy, Americans, we can do anything when we put our minds to it.’ … That’s the country I believe in.”
McCain’s only advertisement that was seen assails Obama over links with 1960s-era radical William Ayers while casting congressional Democrats as liberals who are to blame for the housing crisis because they “fought for risky subprime loans” and “fought against more regulation.”
But the Republican also is getting help from outside groups.
“Click, click, click …” goes a Republican National Committee ad that shows this phrase being typed: “Obama’s plan would spend $1 trillion on top of our current national budget. … Sound crazy? It is.”
And, an organization billing itself as the Committee for Truth in Politics sponsored a commercial showing a baby playing with its toes and cooing as a narrator says: “Senator Obama why did you vote against protecting infants that survive late term abortions … not once but four times?”
Getting Through The Clutter
Cutting through the cacophony has become challenging for candidates running for everything from the state house to the White House.
Strategists for both Obama and McCain have had trouble this year determining the best way to ensure their messages reach voters in an era where blogs compete with newspapers, iPods compete with radio, and download-able programs compete with traditional TV.
Even so, TV commercials still are an important way to court a mass audience with crystalized messages that don’t go through the news media’s filter.
And, campaigns can target their spots to specific audiences. Want to reach stay-at-home-moms? Run ads during soap operas. How about senior citizens? Game shows are the ticket. And, what about young people? Late-night comedy programs are a good bet.
Political commercials that are sporadic at other times, come fast and furious during morning, noon and evening news programs. They tend to have the highest numbers of viewers.
–7:57 a.m. An Obama ad assails “big spenders like John McCain.”
–7:58 a.m. “Steve Stivers. He’s not on your side,” a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee commercial says.
–7:59 a.m. “In crisis we need leadership, not bad judgment,” says a McCain ad.
Over the next half hour, other messages add to the clutter:
“Don’t lock these casino loopholes in the Ohio constitution,” pleads one spot opposing Issue 6, which would amend the state Constitution to allow a $600 million casino resort in southwest Ohio.
Retorts a man in a commercial promoting an affirmative vote: “Issue 6 has no loopholes. I can read. … Gimme a break.”
“You can’t trust Mary Jo Kilroy with your money!” blares a commercial by Stivers, the GOP nominee for Ohio’s 15th House District. Democrat Kilroy’s spot fires back: “No wonder the banking industry is bankrolling Stivers campaign. He’s on their side!”
The media have their own ads, too.
“During this election time ,vote ‘yes’ for Time-Warner Cable. When it comes to your entertainment there’s no debate. … Vote for value!”
A local newscaster says: “Learn how to make your job recession-proof at 5.” And this: “The following segment is brought to you by the incredible edible egg.”
Got all that?
