Gov. Bill Richardson was the first Democratic presidential candidate to air television ads in Iowa and New Hampshire, but others have slowly followed. Now, the governor is heading into the season where his commercials are going to be surrounded and possibly drowned out by others.
The Associated Press is reporting today that the major campaigns have been hoarding money for advertising blitzes in Iowa and New Hampshire that will last the remainder of the year and carry them to the early voting contests.
Hillary Clinton stepped up her advertising several weeks ago, and is set to do it again. Barack Obama began airing his first television ad in New Hampshire this week.
Richardson has kept up this far. The news service reports that Obama has spent $2.7 million on advertising in Iowa, compared to $2 million for Richardson and $1 million for Clinton.
But $2 million is a big chunk of the $13 million Richardson raised in the first two quarters of the year. The dollars spent by Clinton and Obama are drops in the bucket compared to their campaign war chests. Will Richardson be able to keep up?
He’s going to have to air ads that stand out – which he’s done thus far, using both humor and seriousness. Richardson is airing a new ad in New Hampshire beginning Wednesday that attacks the media for not highlighting the fact that Clinton, Obama and John Edwards would leave residual troops in Iraq and thus, Richardson claims, not end the war.
The ad features liberal bloggers making that point for Richardson. It’s designed to coincide with a Democratic candidate debate that will be held Wednesday evening in New Hampshire. The ad is clever and will gain attention.
But the advertising blitz that is about to begin will require that Richardson raise lots of money. Richardson’s early ad spending allowed him to get a jump in the polls, but it’s going to be nearly impossible for him to keep up in ad spending through the remainder of the year. As the Albuquerque Journal reports today, Richardson’s fundraising will drop off this quarter – which ends Sunday – from the $7 million he raised in the second quarter of the year, though he says it will still be in the range of $6 million.
The question will be whether the fundraising of the other candidates will also drop off. The Journal article quotes an analyst as speculating that Richardson might actually top Edwards in fundraising this quarter. As of this morning, Richardson has $160,000 toward his goal of raising $1 million this week. Edwards, by contrast, has about $400,000 toward his goal of raising $1 million in the 10 days before the end of the quarter on Sunday.
That means Edwards had a three-day jump on Richardson toward the goal of raising $1 million before the end of the quarter. Edwards was able to raise well over $1 million in the last week of the second quarter, and the fact that he planned 10 days instead of seven to do it this time might indicate that he’s lost financial support.
But it’s worth asking, at this point, whether the money game between Edwards and Richardson matters now that Clinton and Obama are going to unleash tens of millions of dollars of advertising in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Gov. Bill Richardson was the first Democratic presidential candidate to air television ads in