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First Read is an analysis of the day's political news, from the NBC News political unit. First Read is updated throughout the day, so check back often.

Chuck Todd, NBC Political Director

Mark Murray, NBC Deputy Political Director

Domenico Montanaro, NBC News Political Reporter



Campaigns spend $200 mil on TV ads

Posted: Monday, June 02, 2008 10:49 AM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: , ,

From NBC's Mark Murray
The Democratic and Republican presidential candidates this cycle have spent almost $200 million on TV ads, according to data from TNS Media Intelligence/CMAG and analysis by the Wisconsin Advertising Project

The Democrats -- led by Obama's $75 million and Clinton's $46 million -- spent about $137 million on campaign TV ads.

The Republicans -- led by Romney's $32 million, McCain's $11 million, and Giuliani's $6 million -- spent almost $58 million.

Below are the actual numbers...

Candidate       Airings          Est. Spending
Biden              3,165              1,799,000
Clinton           80,505             46,027,000
Dodd              4,028             1,777,000
Edwards        14,732             8,283,000
Kucinich                27             6,000
Lamagna                 4             5,000
Obama           139,006          74,823,000
Richardson       5,936             4,234,000
Total Democrats 247,403     136,954,000
    
Cort                       15             6,000
Giuliani                 7,127          5,777,000
Huckabee             8,400          3,569,000
Hunter                    114             68,000
McCain              16,413       11,084,000
Paul                       7,220       3,161,000
Romney                 36,841       31,658,000
Tancredo                   99       158,000
Thompson             4,032       2,224,000
Total Republicans   80,261    57,705,000

Total for All Candidates 
                          327,664      194,659,000

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Comments

so gross...one almost needs to shower after reading this.
****Attention Superdeligates**********

Unfortunately, the Dems are going to need more than ads to win this in November

Sen. Obama has SERIOUS problems in connecting to the working class --diverse group of voters throughout America. This is NOT about where the candidates stand on the issues  --as we have known for 15 months now where everyone stands on the issues.

This is NOW a race about comparison of values and moral character between the candidates. Furthermore --in Sen. Obamas OWN words... 'small town, typical white, bible clinging, gun totting, antipathy toward others that are not like them voters'  leave MUCH to be explained to the diverse voters out there and many feel that he simply does not share their moral values (as again, clearly indicated by his own words).

McCain is about as centered as centered can be and at the very least, tells the American voters the TRUTH about situations and not say (As Rev. Wright indicated) "what he {Obama} has to in order to get elected."

Come November --the American voters will vote for the candidate that shares and connects MOST with the values and morals they hold dear and as a result Sen. McCain will be our next President of the United States. And…. Sen. Obama has MUCH yet to explain to the small town, typical white, blue-collar voter!

Willing to bet the White House on that?
So what was it like to run presidential campaigns before the internet, TV, and other means?  I'd almost say the candidates have it a lot easier now, but then on the other hand, there are so many ways for all your baggage to get out to people. How much does a TV or Radio air spot cost these days anyway?
Takes more effort and money to prop up a lie. DeMyopicRats the party of the rich. Good luck trying to hide all that Marxist propaganda that surrounds your new leader.
Wait a minute. Obama spent $75 million and Clinton spent $46 million? That can't be. That's only a little more than 1.5 to 1, and I heard a bunch of people yesterday saying Obama outspent Clinton by 4 or 5 to 1. Someone is lying.

Hmmm. Who could that be. Oh yeah, the same ones who are repeating the lie about Clinton having won the popular vote.
Lot of money that could have been spend toward helping poor Americans!!!


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I don't have a problem with investing in the next leader of the free world.

It is not as though the money has been flushed. That money, as well as, other campaign expenditures, paid people's salaries.
It seems this has been a democratic year in all areas.  

I will stress again, the only way dems will lose is if we don't come together!  
I love how the voters that claim a "reality check" are about as real as the Coneheads. Just for fun, I'll throw out my own "reality checks", for what it's worth. We'll see whose "reality" comes true...

Reality check #1: chance is always a factor, and I would gladly concede that Obama may lose. But I don't think it will happen (see #3).

Reality check #2: HILLARY HAS ALREADY LOST! Stop fighting the past.

Reality check #3: A lot of us want Obama to win, and record numbers have turned out to vote for both Democratic canididates.

Reality check #4: You can't use primary numbers to predict a general election.

Reality check #5: When you add the support of a lot of Hillary supporters that AREN'T bitter about their candidate losing, expect to see Obama's support skyrocket. IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN.

Go back to the Moons of Meepzorp, "reality" losers. Haven't you heard? Opinions aren't reality.
OBSENE is the only word that comes to mind.
American Values...

The only way McCain is center on the value issues is if he's in the middle of Pastor Hagee's church on an anniversery of Hurricane Katrina.

Get a clue
obama clinton and romney are the monsters of advertising

Obama Talks about small businesses
Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting
McCains New Problem
Electoral Maps for the general election


http://sensico.wordpress.com/
"Money can't by me love" obama
Ironic how the repugnant ones are the party of beggars while Barack Obama is the King of campaign cash.  Just how much money did Hillary waste in losing her nomination bid after the writing was on the wall back at the end of February?

Time to bury the repugnant one's message this summer and fall to ensure we have change in the White House that we actually deserve.

Go Lakers in 5!
Go Obama 08/12!
And I'll keep sending Barack $50 a month ... just as long as Hillary Huckabee IS NOT on the ticket at VP.

The thought of Bill prowling around the WH (especially after reading the VANITY FAIR article really creeps me out.  Plus, I REMEMBER VINCE FOSTER, and I hate to think Barack could end up this way in the Clintons' quest to have the presidency.

OBAMA '08 and '12
'It's official: The Clinton campaign has announced that Hillary will hold her Election Night celebration tomorrow night in New York City, at the Baruch College Athletic & Recreation Center.'

And who's picking up the tab??? Oh that's right... go to HillaryClinton.com and make sure you donate every spare dime you have... so they can party... Maybe if there's some left over after she pays herself back (of course) - the vendors/honest hard working people that she has STIFFED can get paid!

Educated 40 something white woman who doesn't cause a ruckus and plays by the rules!

This is just plain sickening!!
GO HILLARY GO!!IT HAS DEFINITY BEEN A UPHILL SWIM THANKS TO THE MEDIA RUN ELECTION.  MAY GOD BE WITH YOU!!!!
Keep it up guys.  I've already decided to vote the democratic ticket except for president which I will leave blank.  If you keep this up I will cast my vote for McCain.
I understand to some extent why Hillary stayed in after it was apparent she was going to lose, but to so actively solicit funds from people to support an already-failed campaign is rather low.
That means that George Soro's has pumped in about .001% of his wealth to the Democrats this year. He'll have to forego getting a new Lear jet until next year.
How much was spent by the 527s supporting various candidates?
Looks like John McCain is going to win this thing on a budget.
American Values.....
Character?  We all have our flaws.  Obama is still in his first marriage.....can McCain say the same?
McCain didn't even bother to show up for the GI Bill vote.......Obama was present and voted yes to our vets.
Obama has left his church after his pastors blurted out nasty, hateful speech......MCCain still looks for a nod frm Pat Robertson, who says 9/11 victims deserved what they got.
Obama advocates the purist form of public finance--small donors from millions of people...McCain cashes in his public finance loan, then rejects it after he spends it.
Obama ad his wife Michelle release their taxes in full to the public.....McCain's mega rich wife refuses to even though she let McCain fly everywhere in her macked out jet for pennies on the dollar.
Character?  I think you need to look up that word before you use it.
To "American Values":

Here's the transcript of Sen. Obama's remarks to which you refer.  Instead of expounding on sound bytes, consider his entire remarks in context.

Huffington Post, April 6, 2008:

 OBAMA: So, it depends on where you are, but I think it's fair to say that the places where we are going to have to do the most work are the places where people feel most cynical about government. The people are mis-appre...I think they're misunderstanding why the demographics in our, in this contest have broken out as they are. Because everybody just ascribes it to 'white working-class don't wanna work -- don't wanna vote for the black guy.' That's...there were intimations of that in an article in the Sunday New York Times today - kind of implies that it's sort of a race thing.

Here's how it is: in a lot of these communities in big industrial states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, people have been beaten down so long, and they feel so betrayed by government, and when they hear a pitch that is premised on not being cynical about government, then a part of them just doesn't buy it. And when it's delivered by -- it's true that when it's delivered by a 46-year-old black man named Barack Obama (laugher), then that adds another layer of skepticism (laughter).

But -- so the questions you're most likely to get about me, 'Well, what is this guy going to do for me? What's the concrete thing?' What they wanna hear is -- so, we'll give you talking points about what we're proposing -- close tax loopholes, roll back, you know, the tax cuts for the top 1 percent. Obama's gonna give tax breaks to middle-class folks and we're gonna provide health care for every American. So we'll go down a series of talking points.

But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there's not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

Um, now these are in some communities, you know. I think what you'll find is, is that people of every background -- there are gonna be a mix of people, you can go in the toughest neighborhoods, you know working-class lunch-pail folks, you'll find Obama enthusiasts. And you can go into places where you think I'd be very strong and people will just be skeptical. The important thing is that you show up and you're doing what you're doing.




Who cares, they didn't get any of my money.  
Wait a minute. Obama spent $75 million and Clinton spent $46 million? That can't be. That's only a little more than 1.5 to 1, and I heard a bunch of people yesterday saying Obama outspent Clinton by 4 or 5 to 1. Someone is lying.

Hmmm. Who could that be. Oh yeah, the same ones who are repeating the lie about Clinton having won the popular vote.

Paul. Stop acting like Chris Matthew. Overall the amount spent was as reported, but the amounts spent on the latest primaries gave Obama a distinct adventage. Your hate of Clinton clouds your reason.
Obama was outspending Clinton 2-1, 3-1, and sometimes 4-1 in some states. After he lost Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Inidana while going at 3-1 spending clip over Hillary, he decided to be a bit more frugal. What's he care though, it's not his money.

There are a lot of people out there that don't like this man, even after he's done advertising. Whites, Jews, and hispanics (see PR results) do not like this man.
It's interesting to note that Obama & Clinton's Ad expenses increased substantially from March 1.  But we are at the same place we were then.

So the actual result of Clinton's insistence to continue is millions that should have been used against McCain as Obama was the likely nominee at end of February and is still the likely nominee now.  

Oh... the other result is that the Clinton campaign is now in debt.
If our collective goal as Dems is to take back the WH and undo Bush's crippling policies we should take a hard look at what is happening. The truth is obama has been LOSING since March 3. When voters began to discover more about who this man really is they have bailed. He is a horribly flawed canidate. He has LESS expierence that Bush did in 2000! He has completly alienated the heart of the Democratic Party. "Bitter" "Religon-Clinging" "Gun Toting" "Typical White Person" voters like myself, WON"T VOTE FOR HIM. If our collective goal is really to take back the WH(not to be "hopeful" or "inspired" or "make history") we will run from this guy ASAP!
Who cares, they didn't get any of my money.  

Marty in KC

========

Good man (or woman). I upped my charity contributions at my church (and no, I've never heard the type of words that come from Pflager or Wright pass my pastors lips) rather then give to any of these lizards.
You can fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all of the time. Puerto Ricans see Obama for what he is, a do nothing, talk a lot about little, candidate.  

REAL people want a REAL person NOT a "phenomenon."

Go Hillary.
How's it feel Obama fans? How's it feel that the money you sent in to Obama will be used to pay off Hillary's debt?
How about showing a chart with how much has been actually paid. Does the Clinton campaign owe money for any of these TV ads?

These campaigns are the largest entities that any of these candidates have ever run. How they have managed their campaigns is an indication of how they will run their administrations. Do you want the Clintons going into their pockets to pay for government programs? Do you want McCain to go to his lobbyist friends for funds? Or do you want a guy who can pay for things and have a surplus?
These numbers are hardly surprising. The Republicans and their 72 year old candidate are dysfunctional and would be broke if not for their Wall Street version of grassroots activism.

Obama inherently needs to spend more on advertising since he is the lesser known of the two candidates.
Keep it up guys.  I've already decided to vote the democratic ticket except for president which I will leave blank.  If you keep this up I will cast my vote for McCain.

Alan, NJ

To Alan and all other like minded hillary Supporters: Please do not cut off your nose to spite your face. yes Obama supporters as well as Clinton supporters have sadi some nasty things about the others respective candidate. Do not let that dissuade you from supporting Obama. As far as policy goes Obama and Clinton are more alike than different and i guaruntee if Clinton helps Obama get elected she will be handsomely rewarded with a high level cabinet position or something. Obama has said many times that he would love to have hillary in some advisory position. If he loses we all ose to McCain and at least 4 more years of BUsh policies. Obama only loses if Clinton supporters alow it. We have the power to take back this country instead of watching rich people destry it for personal gain. with Clinton and her supporters YES WE CAN!!!!
This is disgusting. They couldn't have, oh I don't know, raised $200 million to fight the debt they're passing on to MY generation?
How much was spent by the 527s supporting various candidates?

Keith PA
____________

BINGO!!!

I wouldn't doubt it's 100-1 in favor of the Democrats. Between the unions and ultra-rich lefties like Soros and Ted Turner, the Democrats are trying to buy the election. They've already bought off a tv network (nbc), are proping up a failed radio network (air america) and own most of the print media (NYTs, LA Times, Time, Newsweak), so they are well on their way.
To all those who seemingly hate Barack Obama...

Just so you all know, there are as many, if not more, people who despise Hillary Clinton than despise Barack Obama. There is no reason for ANYone who was with Hillary on the issues not to vote for Barack Obama. This isn't like the difference between John W. McCain and Ron Paul, or even the difference between John McCain 1.0 and George W. Bush. Obama and Clinton are near-copies of each other on policy.

If you're voting on something other than the policies that will guide this country -- if you're voting on gut instinct the way so many did for George W. Bush -- then I, and those like me who are tired of the GOP from top to bottom, would prefer that you all exercise your right NOT to vote.
Bobbi, Eau Claire,WI - really with all do respect, After the last 7 years - what exactly is experience? Because our current administration experience has done us no good.  As far as Barack losing since March - let me try to help you like this - You try fighting two people at once and see how well you do, that's what he's been doing because Hillary stayed in the race -  Now if you are that small minded to allow a few bits from a speech that was ran over and over to determine how you vote for a President than -what's been happening in the past 7 years to this country probably don't mean much to you either.  Be truthful ...anyone will make an excuse as to why they won't do anything...your excuse for not wanting to vote for Barack Obama is because he is Black...certainly Barack has done nothing but great things for the Democratic Party and promises to do great things for the Country...but people like you are so small minded ..that you would rather have 4 more years of Bush and even suffer personally ..just to say I had nothing to do with that blackie being in the white house.....your kind is fading anyway and no body cares who you vote for ...I just wanted to sit the record straight and help you with your delusion


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