Campaign Ads Flood Key Battleground States

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Kerry $'s chases Ohio and Missouri,Bush $'s chases Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60387-2004Jul18.html

Campaign Ads Flood Key Battleground States
60% in Noncompetitive States See Almost No Presidential Commercials, Study Finds

By Charles Babington
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 19, 2004; Page A04


Political strategists and analysts agree there are perhaps 17 battleground states in the presidential race, but Democrat John F. Kerry's spending on TV ads suggest he is especially keen on two, Ohio and Missouri.

President Bush's heaviest spending, meanwhile, focuses largely on three states he narrowly lost in 2000 -- Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin -- and two that he lost rather decisively, Delaware and Michigan. Not surprisingly, both campaigns are advertising heavily in Florida, with Kerry and his supporters outspending Bush in most markets except Miami and the panhandle.

The findings are contained in a new study of campaign spending patterns in the nation's 210 TV markets, from March 4 to June 20. The study was released yesterday by Nielsen Monitor-Plus and the University of Wisconsin Advertising Project.<snip>

But when independent purchases are included, "the Kerry campaign and its allies are reaching voters more often than the Bush campaign in most of the top media markets in battleground states," said Ken Goldstein, director of the University of Wisconsin Advertising Project.<snip>