- Jul 28, 2006
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Amazing fact.
Take Obama's advertising over the past 4 months and factor it out to a full year and he would be the third largest advertiser in the country. Behind only AT&T and Verizon.
I think Obama has killed campaign finance reform for good. And you have to wonder if this is a good thing or a bad thing for the country.
http://politicalticker.blogs.c...l-but-att-and-verizon/
Take Obama's advertising over the past 4 months and factor it out to a full year and he would be the third largest advertiser in the country. Behind only AT&T and Verizon.
I think Obama has killed campaign finance reform for good. And you have to wonder if this is a good thing or a bad thing for the country.
http://politicalticker.blogs.c...l-but-att-and-verizon/
BTW I expect we will see some type of fundraising scandal related to Obama post election. Lots of noise going around about foreign donations, donors with fake names, lack of basic fraud protection on his finance web site etc etc.Presidential candidates are sold in much the same way a new product is: with an expensive, flashy, and ubiquitous television campaign.
And according to advertising figures provided by Campaign Media Analysis Group, CNN's consultant on ad spending, Barack Obama's campaign has spent more money selling its candidate on television than most major brand name companies do selling their products.
The Illinois senator's campaign is projected to have spent $250 million on ads in the last four months ? a number that is equivalent to $750 million in a full year. Only AT&T, with a yearly advertising budget of about $1.3 billion, and Verizon, which shells out $950 million a year on ads, spends more than the Democratic presidential nominee.
But most major companies spend far less than Obama, including McDonald?s ($588 million), Sprint PCS ($482 million), T-Mobile ($404 million), Target ($388 million), and Wal-Mart ($335 million).
John McCain is projected to have spent about $110 million since the general election began.
"This advertising spending by Obama is big, and not just in terms of presidential politics but in terms of all commercial advertising ? he has spent enough to be a mega-brand," CMAG's Evan Tracey said.
Obama's massive advertising budget is also a stark reminder of just how much it costs to finance a modern presidential campaign ? and, predicts Tracey, it could just end the era of public financing.
"If Obama wins it is clear that the days of being on public financing are over and anyone thinking of running for president in four years will have to ask themselves one question before jumping in ? Can I raise $600 million?" said Tracey.