Obama Flexes His Ad Muscles
With his 30 minute prime time advertisement running tonight on TV, Barack Obama most certainly showcases the big time advantage he has over John McCain when it comes to money in this year's Presidential race.
"You can see it in terms of the amount of money spent on the TV, on the air war," says political analyst James Thurber, who teaches about campaigns at American University in Washington, D.C.
"It's 4:1 in Virginia, 7:1 in Colorado. It's making a difference."
When Obama raised $66 million in August, it was a big deal.
But then he raised $150 million in September.
Now he's buying up advertising time on radio and TV in states that are unlikely to go to the Democrats, like Montana. But that has forced Republicans to put up ads of their own, worried that Obama's money might be moving the race towards the Blue team.
McCain meanwhile stuck with his promise to accept limited public financing which Obama had originally said he would do too.
That has limited McCain, even with extra money added in by the Republican National Committee and outside groups, leaving McCain at a disadvantage.
Not only has it allowed Obama to put more ads up on TV and radio, but he can also hire more people to run more offices in more states.
"The ground game in my opinion is going to make a significant difference in the competitive states that were won by Bush last time," said Thurber.
And for now, Obama has more paid staffers and volunteers than McCain, all part of Howard Dean's much maligned 50 state strategy.
Will it work? Well, it sure doesn't hurt.
