The Scoreboard

Barack Obama clearly has the financial advantage over John McCain when it comes to hard campaign funds. But in the less transparent world of independent groups, conservative organizations have been spending about 75 percent more money on TV time for anti-Obama attack ads than liberal groups have spent to defeat McCain.

According to our analysis of the latest numbers from the Campaign Media Analysis Group, conservative groups like Vets for Freedom and American Issues Project have spent about $9,427,000 on TV airtime, while liberal groups like labor unions and MoveOn.org spent $5,351,000 since the beginning of July. That's chump change compared to the candidates' ad buys, but sometimes an outside attack can do what the candidate can't, or won't. For instance, we count four different groups that have run ads linking Obama to former radical Bill Ayers, even when the McCain campaign itself wasn't making that argument.

To be sure, this isn't the full picture. Advocacy groups are spending many millions more on radio ads, direct mail, phone calls and canvassing -- and none of that shows up in these numbers. Plus, a group like Brave New PAC spent very little on TV time, but generated a lot of attention for its online anti-McCain videos. One other caveat: CMAG numbers are just estimates, and the ad-tracking service doesn't pick up the National Rifle Association's ads, and others, on local cable stations.

To make the calculation, we excluded ad buys that clearly meant to advance a partisan agenda but didn't refer to a presidential candidate, like those from the liberal Health Care for America Now and the conservative Employee Freedom Action Committee. We even took out an American Issues Project ad attacking Senate Democrats because it didn't mention Obama. If you add those in, conservatives have outspent liberals nearly two to one since July. Why July? That's the first month after the primaries ended.

Here's the breakdown.

Liberal Groups
Service Employees International Union = $1,999,602
United Auto Workers = $1,104,206
MoveOn.org = $1,008,080
Planned Parenthood = $330,066
VoteVets = $196,320
Defenders of Wildlife = $156,575
Bring Ohio Back = $127,436
AFL-CIO = $123,274
AFSCME = $82,263
PowerPac = $79,880
United Food & Commercial Workers = $70,841
California Nurses Association = $60,316
Matthew 25 Network = $8,858
Brave New PAC = $3,293
TOTAL = $5,351,010

Conservative Groups
Vets for Freedom = $3,906,472
American Issues Project = $1,867,872
RightChange.com = $1,475,581
Committee for Truth in Politics = $1,056,309
Let Freedom Ring = $652,424
Judicial Confirmation Network = $194,283
Born Alive Truth = $165,948
Citizens United = $54,439
Our Country Deserves Better = $28,711
National Republican Trust = $25,162
TOTAL = $9,427,201

There's less than two weeks to go. The liberals could pull ahead -- or the conservatives could pull away. All coming to a TV screen near you.

-- Will Evans

8:15 PM ET | 10-21-2008 | permalink

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