There are news reports that John McCain’s campaign is pulling out of Michigan and conceding the state to Barack Obama. This means that the McCain campaign will likely end political advertising in Michigan for the last month of the presidential race and that fact is reflected in the ad spending by the McCain campaign when comparing it to the Obama campaign.
Mediamouse.org visited the three Grand Rapids-based TV stations again to look at campaign ad buys for the month of September and there was already an indication that the McCain campaign was spending less than the Obama campaign. Here are the numbers for each station:
WXMI 17
McCain/RNC $57,885
Vets for Freedom $4,900
Obama/DNC $65,785
SEUI $29,850
WZZM 13
McCain/RNC $130,225
Vets for Freedom $29,785
Obama/DNC $200,730
SEIU $61,880
WXSP/WOTV/WOOD TV 8
McCain/RNC $213,490
Vets for Freedom $13,950
Obama/DNC $314,185
SEIU $77,230
According to publicly viewable data, the McCain/RNC campaign spent $401,601 for paid TV ads on the three Grand Rapids stations in the month of September and the Obama/DNC campaign spent $580,700 in the same month. The combined totals from the two campaigns for the month of September is just under $1 million dollars spent in trying to influence voters through ads.
We have already pointed out some of the misleading ads that both campaigns have been airing in West Michigan but this is the first time we have looked at ads from 527 Political Action Committees supporting either McCain or Obama. The Service Employees International Union spent $168,960 for paid ads in support of Senator Obama on the three Grand Rapids-based TV stations in the month of September. Their ads focused exclusively on the economy and jobs, with a recent ad that said Barack Obama will have a better tax break plan for the middle class.
The only 527 Political Action Committee ads that supported McCain during the month of September that aired on West Michigan TV stations was from the group Vets for Freedom. Vets for Freedom spent considerably less than SEIU during the month, with a total of $48,635 compared to more than three times that much from the union. The ads that Vets for Freedom ran in September make the claim that Senator Obama did not support “the surge” in Iraq. While Senator Obama may have spoken against “the surge” in the past, he has consistently voted for funding the war in Iraq. Senator Obama even admitted during the first presidential debate and on the Bill O’Reily show that “the surge” in Iraq did indeed work.
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