Ad spending headed for record

The economy might be tanking, but the presidential campaigns are doing their part to help the bottom lines of TV stations and networks.

A monitoring group reported today that Democrat Barack Obama has spent $27 million on TV ads and Republican John McCain another $21 million since Obama clinched the nomination on June 3 and the general election campaign basically started.

The 100,000-plus airings between June 3 and July 26 are far more than the 77,000 during the same period in 2004, when President Bush and Senator John F. Kerry broke all advertising records for a presidential race.

“Obama’s fund-raising totals allow his campaign to purchase more ads,” Ken Goldstein, director of the Wisconsin Advertising Project, said in a statement, “but, to this point, we have yet to see that advantage translate to a massive advantage in paid media.”

While Obama is spreading out his ads across many states, McCain is focusing on four key states -- Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, according to the project's analysis of data from TNS Media Intelligence/CMAG.

McCain's ads are also more negative, the project says: "In general, the campaign advertising appears to be mostly about Obama and less about McCain.  Over 90 percent of the ads aired by Obama are positive in nature and do not mention Senator McCain.  In contrast, approximately a third of the McCain campaign’s ads are negative, contrasting the two presidential candidates."