Presidential candidates have spent $1.6 million on Iowa ads

More than $1.6 million has been spent on advertising for the November election in Iowa by the presidential campaigns of Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain, according to a report issued by the University of Wisconsin Advertising Project.

McCain is leading in spending, with $946,000 spent on advertising in Iowa compared with $700,000 by Obama’s campaign. Nationwide, since the end of the primary season (June 3) through July 26, the two presidential candidates have aired ads more than 100,000 times nationally on broadcast television, compared to 77,000 times during the same period in 2004. The McCain campaign has spent just over $21 million on television advertising since June 3, while Obama has spent over $27 million.

McCain did take advantage of the prolonged Democratic primary, the report said, airing 5,374 ads and spending $2.2 million prior to June 3. These ads were aired in Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia and are not included in the totals in the report issued today.

“Obama’s fund-raising totals allow his campaign to purchase more ads,” Ken Goldstein, director of the Wisconsin Advertising Project, said in a statement, “but, to this point, we have yet to see that advantage translate to a massive advantage in paid media.”

While Obama is spreading out his ads across many states, McCain is focusing on four key states – Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, according to the project’s analysis of data from TNS Media Intelligence/CMAG, a non-partisan organization that provides data and analysis for political, public affairs and issue advocacy advertising.

There are five states where Obama is advertising and McCain is not. Those include Alaska, Georgia, Indiana, Montana and North Carolina. Of those, 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry only advertised in North Carolina.

“It is certainly worth noting that Obama is up in these red states and has the airways all to himself,” Goldstein said.

Although Obama has spent $6 million more than McCain on television advertising nationwide, if the spending by the Republican National Committee is included,the margin decreases to $2.3 million.

“In general, the campaign advertising appears to be mostly about Obama and less about McCain. Over 90 percent of the ads aired by Obama are positive in nature and do not mention Sen. McCain.In contrast, approximately a third of the McCain campaign’s ads are negative, contrasting the two presidential candidates.”