http://www.beaufortobserver.net/1homebody.lasso
Bloomberg.com/politics has a story with what we think are some significant facts about the presidential election so far.
They report:
The top six Republican presidential campaign advertisers, all independent political action committees that can raise and spend unlimited sums of money, have little to show for what they’ve shelled out so far. After at least $18.5 million in television commercials, the candidates they’re backing are among those doing the worst in the polls.
Those findings, from a Bloomberg Politics analysis of broadcast advertising data, raise questions about the return on investment so far for the mega-donors mostly responsible for super-PAC financing, while also suggesting that long-held truisms of campaigning might be weakening in the face of new technology.
Donald Trump, Ben Carson, and Carly Fiorina, three candidates who have led in the polls in recent weeks despite never having held elective office, haven’t had super-PAC support on TV. Among the three, Carson is the only one to have run his own campaign ads, and at significantly lower levels than the super-PACs.
We’re not going to be running ads. I can tell you that,” Fiorina said Friday in Iowa, the state that hosts the first nomination voting. “We’re going to be shaking hands and meeting voters.”
The ability to advertise in multiple states at once has traditionally been viewed as a sign of political strength in presidential campaigns. In this election season, at least so far, it seems a sign of weakness.
“Often you spend money when you are in trouble,” said Ken Goldstein, a University of San Francisco professor and polling and advertising analyst for Bloomberg Politics. “In this campaign, that’s proving especially true.”
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Commentary
This is important. Very important. It is not only important in terms of who may win the Republican Primary (more so than who wins the Democrat Primary) but it is important in what it says about how the political sands have shifted. We sense people don’t put as much stock in political advertising as they did before they could learn what they want to know in the internet.
PAC may not only not be as important as they were in the past, but the smart candidates may be more successful in creating a popular backlash against PAC’s trying to con the races.
When the general populace starts paying attention, Advertising will have as much power as it ever did.
Do no underestimate the effect of a few hunderd million in negative advertising.
And this cycle we will see more of it than ever.