The McCain campaign's strategy with regards to ads appears to be simple: Above all else, try to get advertisements (particularly those that are only aired a few times as paid spots) repeated as many times as possible on the cable networks for free. The Obama campaign takes a decidedly different tack. Here's MSNBC's First Read:
*** Obama's stealth ad campaign: Over the past week, we've gotten our hands on a number of negative TV ads Obama's been running against McCain in key states like Ohio and Michigan. This is in addition to the tough spot, uncovered by Politico, that Obama's airing in Indiana. Clearly, the Obama campaign isn't interested in telling the media about every single McCain attack ad they're running. Perhaps this is because Obama's brand can't afford to be tarnished too much if he's seen as constantly running negative TV ads. So the campaign simply puts them on the air in key markets, doesn't tell the press about them, and layers those ads with positive ones being run nationally during the Olympics. Also, by not releasing to the media, it forces the McCain camp to wait a day or two before they see the ad. McCain's camp is much more comfortable unveiling their negative ads, perhaps because they want the free press that comes with them. But make no mistake, Obama's running plenty of negative TV ads, particularly in the industrial Midwestern states. In fact, one of Obama's biggest candidate strengths -- which doesn't get the attention it deserves -- is that he plays political hardball as well as his opponents; he just sometimes does it under the radar.
Here's an example of another such ad, one running locally in Ohio:
As you can see, Barack Obama is not afraid to hit John McCain where it counts, having his campaign run compelling and emotive ads exposing McCain's weaknesses on key local issues. We've seen it in Indiana, we've seen it in Nevada, we're seeing it in Ohio, and no doubt it's occurring elsewhere. So while it may seem to some that Obama is not running a sufficiently aggressive effort to pin McCain down for his out of touch positions, the fact of the matter is that just because Obama isn't running a Beltway-focused campaign targeted more at the establishment press than actual voters doesn't mean that Obama isn't holding McCain to account -- because in fact Obama is running tough, hard-hitting ads around the country.
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