Campaigns Take Ad War to TV After Months of Holding Fire

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After months of relative quiet, the Republican presidential candidates have started to increase their television advertising, bringing a new competitive dynamic to a fight that has largely remained off the commercial airwaves until now.

The first sustained barrage of broadcast and cable advertisements in early-voting states is beginning this week in Iowa and New Hampshire, where Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas and Rep Ron Paul of Texas have all started securing time slots. Over the last several days, the campaigns have told officials at stations and cable providers that they would commit to spending a total of about $1 million on ads. An independent political group backing Mr. Perry has committed close to $400,000 more. Gingrich became the latest to enter the ad skirmish, reserving what his campaign said would be $250,000 worth of airtime on a new 60-second ad in which he declares over images of Americana that “Working together we can and will rebuild the America we love.” The delayed start to the advertising war — which by this point in the last two presidential election cycles was already in full swing — has been one of the more unforeseen aspects of a campaign season that has had all the other trappings of a highly competitive race: wild poll fluctuations, a fight over coveted endorsements and spirited back-and-forth among the candidates. Analysts said that advertising spending has been slow for a variety of reasons, chief among them the abundance of televised debates, which have given candidates the kind of wide exposure they would otherwise achieve only by buying commercials.


Campaigns Take Ad War to TV After Months of Holding Fire