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Romney leads in S.C. TV ads

Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor January 18, 2008 01:34 PM

While Mitt Romney is seeking to downplay Saturday's primary in South Carolina, he has still aired more TV ads there than any of his GOP competitors.

Nielsen Monitor-Plus reported today that between February 2007 and Tuesday, Romney ran nearly half of all Republican ads. However, in the campaign's closing days, which he has spent in Nevada, he has been out-advertised by Mike Huckabee, John McCain, and Ron Paul.

Romney's spots aired 5,257 times during that period in the Charleston, Columbia, Greenville-Spartanburg and Myrtle Beach-Florence TV markets, according to Nielsen. Huckabee was a distant second with 2,049 spots. McCain, who has a slim lead in the latest polls, was third with 1,471 spots.

Among Democrats, who are pointing to their primary Jan. 26, John Edwards has been on TV the most, airing 4,088 spots in the state where he was born and where he badly needs a win.

Barack Obama had twice as many spots as the other front-runner in the S.C. polls, Hillary Clinton, 2,809 to 1,430.

12 comments so far...
  1. He must have money. He ran ads during American Idol.

    Posted by Matt January 18, 08 02:27 PM
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  1. FOX NEWS reportedly deleted Ron Paul's key debate response from the last debate in a LIVE REBROADCAST they recently aired. How is it a LIVE REBROADCAST if you splice out that which you don't want the voting public to hear? Like Ron Paul or not, this should disturb you in my humble opinion.

    CAMERON: Congressman Paul, yet another question about electability.
    Do you have any, sir? There's always the question as to whether or not¦
    (LAUGHTER)
    ¦ you are, in fact, viable. Your differences with the Republicans on the — with the rest of the Republi-cans on this stage has raised questions about whether or not you can actually win the Republican nomi-nation, sir.
    PAUL: Well, we’ve only had two little primaries so far. So it’s pretty premature to decide which one is going to be the candidate.
    But, you know, when you think about it, if you measured everything I’ve ever said, every vote I’ve ever taken against the Constitution, you know, I’m a strict constitutionalist.
    Are you suggesting the Republicans should write me off because I’m a strict constitutionalist? I’m the most conservative member here. I have voted, you know, against more spending and waste in govern-ment than anybody else.
    (APPLAUSE)
    So you’re suggesting that I’m not electable and the Republicans don’t want me because I’m a strict fiscal conservative, because I believe in civil liberties? Why should we not be defending civil liberties and why should we not be talking about foreign policy that used to be the part of the Republican Party?
    PAUL: Mr. Republican Robert Taft didn’t even want us to be in NATO and you’re saying now that we have to continue to borrow money from China to finance this empire that we can’t afford?
    Let me see if I get this right. We need to borrow $10 billion from China, and then we give it to Mushar-raf, who is a military dictator, who overthrew an elected government. And then we go to war, we lose all these lives promoting democracy in Iraq. I mean, what’s going on here?
    (APPLAUSE)
    And you’re saying that this isn’t appealing to Republicans? Where did this come about? I think this is the Republican message. I defend the platform. It used to say we’d (inaudible) the Department of Education. It doesn’t say that now.
    We, as Republicans, went and doubled the size of the Department of Education, so where have we gone? I think we’ve lost our way. And then the insinuation that I am less Republican because of that?
    HUME: Congressman, thank you very much.

    In response, the official Ron Paul 2008 Campaign blog asks,

    “…how could any semi-reputable news source cut a presidential candidate’s answer in a debate? And how could a network that hundreds of thousands of conservatives trust delete the most forcefully conservative, Constitutionalist, anti-statist answer that any candidate gave that night?â€

    Posted by voiceofthepeople January 18, 08 03:17 PM
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  1. He has more money than Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul combined. He's trying to buy the nomination, but I don' t think he'll do well in the south. He's too much of a slick and slimy northern salesman.

    Posted by Lefty January 18, 08 03:23 PM
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  1. Notice how he downplays any area where people aren't buying his lies?
    Washington is broken and I and my many donors who are all embedded in DC can fix it. I and my "advisers" who are not "running my campaign" are going to bring change that resembles my one night stand in Massachusetts.

    Yes, I told MA I'd call her again and we'd fix some bridges and lower the murder rate, but some things don't work out, you know? I wasn't avoiding Massachusetts my last year in office, I was busy. 212 days of the year busy.

    Posted by DeadbeatMitt January 18, 08 03:40 PM
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  1. Mitt Romney has a personal fortune to play with. He knows it is going to take clever ads to win. He is a smiley, likeable guy but his honesty is a big concern for me. With the exception of Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama and Ron Paul few of the candidates seem to take the *US* Constitution seriously anymore. This should give us pause. Perhaps we should scrap it? After all, once in office they must swear to uphold the *US* (not foreign) Constitution for all people, even their most hated adversaries.

    Posted by Don January 18, 08 03:42 PM
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  1. Two opposable thumbs down for the Flip Flopper of our lifetime. Don't even apply to run for any other office in our great Country. Your wealth cannot buy or cheat America anymore. Stay out of our Government.

    DO NOT VOTE FOR WILLARD MITT ROMNEY

    Posted by Dan Campbell January 18, 08 03:45 PM
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  1. Notice how he downplays any area where people aren't buying his lies?
    Washington is broken and I and my many donors who are all embedded in DC can fix it. I and my "advisers" who are not "running my campaign" are going to bring change that resembles my one night stand in Massachusetts.

    Yes, I told MA I'd call her again and we'd fix some bridges and lower the murder rate, but some things don't work out, you know? I wasn't avoiding Massachusetts my last year in office, I was busy. 212 days of the year busy.

    Posted by DeadbeatMitt January 18, 08 03:53 PM
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  1. Mitt Romney has a personal fortune to play with. He is not afraid to spend it. Give him credit, he knows it is going to take clever ads to win. He is a smiley, likeable guy who may be good for the economy (big business) but his honesty is a big concern for me. With the exception of Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama and Ron Paul few of the candidates seem to take the *US* Constitution seriously anymore. This should give us pause or should it? Perhaps we should scrap it and start anew? After all, once in office our elected representative must swear to uphold the *US* (not foreign) Constitution for all people. This includes even their most hated adversaries. People at the extremes defend it because according to this document they deserve equal protection under the law just like everyone else.

    Posted by voiceofthepeople January 18, 08 03:58 PM
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  1. GO Romney!!

    Posted by Daniel January 18, 08 07:58 PM
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  1. Look guys, we are all scared of Romney. We are scared that this man, under false pretense of wanting to help America, will in fact destroy America. To most of us it is obvious that Mitt Romney wants to hold the seat of the most powerful position in the most powerful country in the world.

    I don't want to look out the window one day and see mushroom clouds forming and heading my way. Romney is deceitfully and viciously trying to buy the votes of the American people.

    He continues to out spend each candidate 50 to 1. Search yourself on google for "flip flop" Mitt flop" "mitt romney and Glen Johnson" or "mitt and lobbyists"

    We need to pull together and keep this man from aquiring the power he wants.

    Please join me by going out and voting for anyone other than Mitt Romney. I beg you.

    Posted by Dan Campbell January 18, 08 11:47 PM
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  1. you guys are jealous of mitt romney wealth and making him a president makes matters worse .Poor soul he has worked hard for his money .he lives the life huckabee preaches ......a devout family man ...............

    keep your prejudices aside and vote for him even though you may be on some one else's campaign roll........

    save the american dream

    Posted by mcain January 22, 08 06:52 PM
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  1. by degrees to have recourse, either to other bankers, or to other methods of maintain the natural progress of things towards improvement, in spite both

    Posted by Betty January 23, 08 10:31 AM
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About political intelligence Field reports from Boston Globe reporters and editors covering the 2008 presidential campaign and the national maneuvering of Bay State politicians.

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