What Sort of Major Party Presidential Campaign Doesn't Run Ads?

[MineralMan]

Can anyone answer that? No ads. None. Not from the Trump campaign. There have been a few PAC ads, but nothing from the Trump campaign.

Frankly, I'm more than a little puzzled by this. TV advertising is an absolute must for a presidential race, but there isn't any from Trump.

If anything is an indication that Trump isn't planning to stick out this campaign, it's that. The Clinton campaign is running negative ads about Trump in most major markets and on a regular basis, but there is no response from Trump.

I'm not sure how that can be explained. It's not as though he's getting positive press coverage. He's not.

Does anyone have a clue about what he might be thinking with this ad-free campaign?

[Orsino]

1. A losing one, "run" by a dilettante. n/t

[NurseJackie]

2. Saving it all for a final week blitz?

Only ... don't these things need to be scheduled far in advance? You don't just buy ads the same day, right?

[MineralMan]

3. I can't even imagine anyone thinking that could work.

How to win a presidential election is pretty well established by now. Advertising is a crucial part of the process. For many voters, that's the only real exposure they get to a candidate. There are so many people these days who never, ever, see any news. They deliberately avoid it. Ads are the only way to reach them.

I think it's amazing. It's as if he's abandoning the campaign before it even begins, and that could lead to an unprecedented landslide in November. This is the strangest presidential campaign I've ever seen.

[uponit7771]

39. There's only so much "inventory" or time slots, they just can't go and buy up prime slots left

... or the prime spots could already be bought before hand.

Also, tRump has already defined himself worse than Hillary could ever have... watching FAUX news now and they're STILL talking about the Khans... that defined him as an asshole... now he'll do little but enforce the idea that he's an asshole like here recenlty.

A 1 month blitz isn't going to change that

[catbyte]

4. Perhaps he's letting his PAC do the heavy lifting. Here in Michigan, those shitty PAC ads

have started. Maybe he's counting on them to run his ads, just like he's counting on the RNC for his ground game in each state. Whatever it is, it's lazy, arrogant, and sure to fail big time.

I hope he keeps it up.

[dawnie51]

5. One run by a fool....

but Trump has stated he doesn't need ads. He gets all the advertisement he wants for free, from the networks who broadcast every idiotic utterance he makes. He thinks any TV is good TV. But the stuff the country is seeing just shows him as the buffoon he actually is. He is too narcissistic to see that. Lets hope that continues.

[whatthehey]

6. (stupidly) relying on PACs and free media?

Sure he's getting some negative stories but when they cover his every word free of charge no matter how inane, his message is getting plenty of airtime. It's a bloody stupid haphazard mishmash of twaddle, but few people can say they don't know it.

[displacedtexan]

7. The kind of campaign that doesn't hire staffers in all states and territories that vote.

Campaign ads are the icing on the cake. Trump's campaign doesn't even have a cake.

Party loyalists depend on campaign jobs at every level, in order to either gain entry into the system or to rise within the system. Capitol Hill staffers don't grow on trees and neither do candidates. They start out on various rungs of the party ladder; however, if the party suddenly can't pay for its ground game, there's no one to do the necessary daily tasks. This is why fundraising by the candidates is so very important, as well as why coordinating campaigns is vital for success.

Trump, even though he's a truly vile human being, has no one to blame but himself for his disastrous run for office. It's always been common knowledge that Republicans don't even do basic things like knock & drops if there's no cash, or at least better campaign assignments at stake.

[Exilednight]

8. Super PACs and I've seen plenty of them.

His campaign is not running ads, but Super PACs are.

[apnu]

9. One that is not serious about winning the election.

Either Trump is that incompetent or he's not serious about running a real election and actually winning. I doubt he's that kind of incompetent, so I'll go with the latter: he is not serious about running a real election and really winning the white house. So if he is not serious, then what is he doing? He's marketing his brand, his name, and sucking up cash for his pocket.

He's raised, what $80 million? $90 million? His campaign has $30+ million on hand? He's sitting on that? I doubt it. I bet he's supplementing his life style right now. Its what he does, what he's always done. Sucked cash out of other people, spent it on himself and delivered either nothing or a shoddy shell of what he said would happen.

The man is grifter.

[politicaljunkie41910]

31. I don't think he made as much last month as they claimed. After all, he lies about everything.

The day that they announced the amount raised for last month, Trumps announced that they had raised $50 million, the most he'd raised in any month since he's been running . Shortly thereafter, the Clinton campaign announced that they had raised $90 million. Later in the day, I heard another news report that the Trump campaign had raised $80 million. I was surprised because the earlier report had said $50M. I thought to myself, that nobody makes that big of a mistake, but of course I left room for the fact that it was one of the news networks that I had heard, and the possibility that they had misspoke.

If it subsequently comes to bear that they lied on their FEC filing, I hope that the FEC comes down on him hard for filing a false report. The fact that you mention that his campaign has only $30+ million on hand leads me to believe that he did only raise $50M, because Trump has been very tightfisted when it comes to spending money. He has a shoestring organization, and he's not running any ads nor does he have any kind of ground game. So why would he lie, you might ask? Because this was a make or break time for his campaign. Reince was up in arms about his unwillingness to do what needed to be done as far as fundraising goes and donors were unwilling to ante up with their money unless Trump was proving that he had some skin in the game. Trump's known for lying about everything, and may have felt pressured to show a good fundraising month, and for him, that $50M was a good month. That is, until the Clinton team reported that they had raised $90M, somehow his $50M would have paled in comparison.

FTR, the only reason that I am mentioning this is to have a record of it should this actually be the case, a few months from now.

[misterhighwasted]

10. Who knows.

His ego says he doesn't need to?

He's broke & can't afford tv ads?

His campaign manager, Putin , has already reassured Trump that the hackers have easily accessed the US voting machines & "not to worry".

[MichiganVote]

11. What would he put in the ads?

Public service-none
Legislative experience-none
Governmental roles-none
Campaign support for the republicans-screenshot of a check he's written?
Charitable work-attending posh charitable events? He seldom does, he write a check and that's usually it-maybe
International work-none
Meetings with international leaders-none (save Putin, who knows?)
Support for service men or women-come on now-you know that hasn't happened.
Political friends or endorsements-Nobody wants to be seen with him

What can this guy put in an ad besides his model wife, off spring, photos of Mar Lago and wearing polo shirts to play golf. He does nothing. Nada.

[tblue37]

34. His ads would be 100% anti-Clinton, and mostly lies and smears. nt

[MichiganVote]

35. Problem is, he can't incite his listeners in an ad, which is what he wants. Maybe he will later.

[unblock]

12. until the last couple weeks his strategy of getting free media worked well for him.

all the media attention on him more than made up for the lack of paid ads.

he's always been a cheap bastard. talks a big talk but never produces the money. always talking down the debts he owes, whether though bankruptcy or not. so he's getting the media to advertise for free for him, he's getting the pacs to advertise for him, but he always comes up short with his own money.

the problem now is that the strategy isn't working, and he needs to shift. i'm sure he was completely caught off-guard with the latest turn of events, with the polls and the media souring on him. now he really needs to get ads out there, but he doesn't have the wherewithal to adapt quickly.

instead he's pleading with other republicans to back him up, lol.

[kestrel91316]

13. Ads cost money. He's personally pocketing all the money.

He's running his campaign like he runs his businesses - he takes all the money out and then bankrupts them.

[MineralMan]

14. Could be. However, that strategy has the potential

to lead to federal criminal charges. If he diverts all of those funds to benefit himself personally, he will get prosecuted, I'm sure. Maybe he just doesn't care any longer.

[kestrel91316]

17. That's why he needs to win. So he can stop the DOJ.

He may be funneling the money through his and his kids' businesses to call it legitimate expenditures.

[MineralMan]

19. Not much chance of his winning, I think.

Not much chance at all.

[kestrel91316]

24. He hasn't got that memo, obviously.

[bullimiami]

15. There is still no evidence that he converted his loans to the campaign.

He will need money in the bank to pay himself back and maybe he doesn't want to spend his 50mil on ads for a loser?

[MichiganVote]

36. Totally agree.

[uponit7771]

40. +1

[electron_blue]

16. he doesn't need ads - he gets plenty of advertising for free through the media

This is part of his plan all along - say and do provocative things to get the attention.

[brooklynite]

18. Answer: "I won the Primary".

Why change what you think works?

[MineralMan]

20. Well, he's demonstrated that he's not a smart man.

He'll have some even more convincing evidence of that soon enough.

[oberliner]

21. One that gets 24/7 free coverage from the media?

It's got to be at least 20-1 Trump-Hillary in terms of news coverage, right? Maybe more.

[MineralMan]

22. The coverage is negative, though.

And it's getting more negative on a daily basis. Trump has no control over what the media does. He has no control over what all those Republicans who are repudiating him do, either. He has lost control of his campaign almost completely.

Not all publicity is good, despite the saying.

[oberliner]

23. Corey Lewandowski is a paid CNN contributor

Think about that.

[MohRokTah]

25. This is Romney mistakes on a major scale.

In 2012, Obama bought up advertising time early in the battlegrounds, just like Hillary is doing now. Romney failed to purchase much ad time early, and ended up paying nearly double what Obama did when he finally bought some time.

I suggest this is just standard Trump level mismanagement.

[peggysue2]

26. I Don't Get It

He's not running ads, he's not opening field offices, he's not doing data research & analysis, etc. So what's he doing with the money? Presumably he raised 10 million short of Hillary's haul last month. She's going gung-ho on advertising spots, outnumbers Trump's state-wide office representation by a lot, and her team is all in on data-targeting. Not to mention she has a slew of surrogates to reinforce her message.

Trump's response has been mediocre at best. And the public and media reaction? Brutal.

I don't get it. Although Trump did say early on that he wouldn't need gobs of money for the race. I presumed he meant to 'win' the race. Not take a dive.

We shall see.

[MineralMan]

27. I don't get it, either.

I'm beginning to get the sense that the goal that should be the end goal may not be his goal at all. His failure to do anything about his ground game in the battleground states is reinforcing that sense for me. I posted about his pitiful Ohio campaign strategy in another OP. He basically has none. He has a token office in Columbus with only a couple of staff people. When does he think he needs to start campaigning there, I wonder? Hillary has a dozen offices in Ohio with 250 staff positions already in place.

No ground game. No advertising. Pretty much no campaign at all. He appears not to be trying.

[mopinko]

28. one that hopes to pocket all the money in the end.

iirc, once a campaign is over, the candidate can convert the money to themselves. i could be wrong. but that is how it used to be at the congressional level, anyway.

at any rate, he intends to pay himself back for his "loans", probably w whatever interest rate he can get away with.

[MineralMan]

29. No, they can't pocket the money. Against the law.

He might be repaying his own loans to the campaign with the cash. I don't know. Maybe he's reduced to trying to break even on his investment. He's certainly increased his national brand awareness, although I'm not sure that will be to his benefit, really.

He's a year younger than I am. I'm not making any big long-term plans these days, frankly. I'm always puzzled by people in their 70s who have big plans for the future. I'm hoping to just enjoy my life from now on, to tell the truth. I'm not starting to write an epic novel.

[kimbutgar]

30. I've been seeing those banner ads on left leaning sites in support of Cheeto though

[sofa king]

32. Trump Rule #36: Don't spend money you plan to keep for yourself

He is almost certainly arguing that his numerous daily call-ins to news organizations and his ongoing Twitter-storm are his end of the bargain. He almost certainly demands that associated PACs--those he cannot later dismantle himself, to keep that money--must pay for television commercials.

The overall structure of his campaign has, from the beginning, been pretty clearly designed as a for-profit operation. He loans himself money and pays himself back with small-donor contributions, probably at exorbitant interest rates. As usual, he refuses to pay salaries whenever possible so his "ground game," such as it is, appears to be made up of unpaid volunteers.

When the time comes to dismantle his campaign, he will give the funds to a 501(c)(4) organization, which will in turn disperse them to another 501(c)(4) and at that point they no longer have to be reported to anyone, not even the IRS.

http://www.cc.com/video-clips/66y7dx/the-colbert-report-colbert-super-pac-shh----secret-second-501c4---trevor-potter

[GeorgeGist]

33. Does he get to keep the unspent money?

[MineralMan]

41. Not legally. He can donate it to other candidates, or

keep it for another run for office, but he cannot divert it, legally, to become personal income. The law is clear.

[Setsuna1972]

37. NONE here in Virginia, NONE

With the big military population here, you'd expect to see quite a lot of Trump ads on tv. NOT. A. SINGLE. ONE .

[mcar]

38. He wants the money

Only thing I can figure.