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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (53961)	7/12/2004 11:57:55 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793670

Kerry TV ads outpace Bush's Gap upsets political experts' predictions By Mark Memmott USA TODAY Sen. John Kerry's campaign and groups opposed to President Bush have run almost twice as many TV ads in closely contested states as the Bush-Cheney campaign. That is the opposite of what many political experts predicted before March, when Kerry emerged as the likely Democratic candidate for president. The gap could grow by the July 26 start of the Democratic National Convention. This month, the Kerry campaign plans to spend $18 million on TV ads, outpacing the Bush campaign by about $10 million. Kerry's ads include the first one spotlighting his running mate, Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C. ''It was supposed to be 'poor John Kerry,' or 'poor Democrats, they'll be overwhelmed by a Bush money machine' '' that would saturate 16 to 20 competitive states with TV ads, says Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. USA TODAY obtained data collected by TNS Media Intelligence/Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks political ads. The data, covering 17 closely contested states from March 3 through June 26, show: * The Kerry campaign's ads were shown 72,908 times, 3.1% more than the Bush-Cheney campaign's 70,688 showings. * Political groups' ads were shown 56,627 times. All but 513 were ads by liberal, anti-Bush groups such as MoveOn PAC and the Media Fund. The others were by conservative groups. Taken together, about 129,000 Kerry or anti-Bush ads were aired, 82% more than the Bush-Cheney total. The 17 states used were Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Bush campaign officials say the data do not trouble them. ''The Bush-Cheney campaign has $64 million in cash on hand. The campaign is very comfortable that it has the resources to implement its strategy,'' says Bush-Cheney spokesman Steve Schmidt. The Kerry campaign had about $30 million on hand at the end of June but was still raising money at a fast clip. It cost Bush's campaign $59.6 million to run those ads in key states. Kerry's campaign spent $56 million. The outside groups spent $38.6 million. The campaigns also have advertised on some national cable channels and in a few other states. By the end of this month, each will have spent $80 million on TV ads. The $200 million worth of TV ads by the campaigns and outside groups would be about equal to the total spent on TV ads in all of 2000 by the Bush and Gore campaigns and outside groups. Some political scientists say the numbers shouldn't concern the president. ''The Bush campaign gets a lot of free media time, good and bad, because he's the president,'' says Jamie McKown, political communications professor at the College of Charleston in South Carolina. ''It's still a long way to the election,'' says Karen Cartee, professor of advertising, public relations and communications at the University of Alabama. ''And the people who haven't made up their minds aren't paying much attention yet.''

To: LindyBill who wrote (53961)	7/12/2004 12:31:10 PM
From: Mary Cluney	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793670

<<< An avid reader, Kerry usually has a half dozen books going at once on the plane. Most recently he has been reading "The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Mothers and Fathers Are Going Broke," Walter Isaacson's "Benjamin Franklin: An American Life," David Halberstam's "The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship" and Robert Caro's "Master of the Senate.">>> I am impressed. I remember when they asked LBJ what books he was currently reading and the Press Secretary at the time ( I forget who now) always responded with The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman. I think LBJ was still reading that book when he left the Whitehouse.