Conservative Groups Rule The Past Week Of Ads

In the independent-group battle over the presidency, the anti-Obama American Issues Project is outspending liberal groups trying help Obama by more than two to one.

Over the last week, AIP spent an estimated $358,000 on 263 TV spots hammering Obama for his association with a 1960s militant, according to the Campaign Media Analysis Group. With the Obama campaign launching legal challenges, the ads aired in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia -- and American Issues Project has a lot more to spend.

On the other side, MoveOn.org spent about $133,000 to run an ad tying McCain to "Big Oil" 199 times in North Carolina. And PowerPac spent only $33,000 on 87 spots promoting Obama in New Mexico and Texas.

Still, that's not even close to the disparity in the Colorado Senate race.

Four conservative groups are running ads targeting the Democratic candidate, Rep. Mark Udall, spending an estimated $874,000. That's more than four times as much as two liberal groups are spending ($198,000) to bash the Republican candidate, Bob Schaffer.

So, by the measures of airtime and money, we can chalk the last week up for the conservatives.

-- Will Evans

6:13 PM ET | 08-26-2008 | permalink

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