Romney Tops Obama Ad Spending for First Time
Romney Tops Obama Ad Spending for First Time
For the first time this election season, Mitt Romney is outspending President Barack Obama on television ads, as the Republican challenger unleashes the fruits of a summer of aggressive fundraising.
Mr. Romney will spend about $16.8 million on television ads this week, according to ad-tracking data provided by media buyers, while Mr. Obama will spend about $15.5 million, down 30% from the week before when the campaign spent heavily to air a two-minute spot.
The GOP nominee is spending heavily even in battleground states where Mr. Obama has led by notable margins in polls. That includes about $1 million in ad buys this week in Wisconsin by the Romney campaign.
At the same time, Mr. Obama and the super PAC supporting him have decreased their ad buys in Wisconsin, a bet that the president’s lead in the state is safe after a blitz of TV ads and two visits to the state by the president, including his largest rally of the year last week in Madison.
Mr. Romney can’t easily drop his efforts in the Badger State. If he were to lose Ohio, where Mr. Obama is leading in most polls, Wisconsin would become critical to any chance of his winning an Electoral College majority.
Meantime, Priorities USA Action, the pro-Obama super PAC, is moving some of its Wisconsin money to Nevada after reviewing internal polling, aides said. Ad rates are much lower in Nevada, and Priorities USA officials believe it’s a place where its ad buy could make a difference in winning the state, as the president did in 2008.