Election ads fill state's airwaves

Seen a presidential ad or five lately? So has the rest of Florida, where more than $27-million has been spent on TV spots in just three months.

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While most states have yet to see a single presidential campaign ad on their broadcast TV stations, Floridians are swimming in them.

Four months earlier than the state's TV wars started in 2000, the most expensive presidential campaign in history is pumping more money into Florida than any other state. In the last three months alone, the Bush and Kerry campaigns and their allies have spent more than $27-million on Florida TV - nearly as much as the entire TV budgets during the state's 2002 governor's race.

And both sides have made the Tampa Bay market one of their primary targets.

"The volume is extraordinary," said Sam Rosenwasser, general manager of WTSP-Ch. 10. "We're surprised it's coming as early as it is."

If Oprah's on in the Tampa Bay area, chances are so are images of Kerry in Vietnam or commercials bashing Bush's record. If it's time for Jeopardy! or Wheel of Fortune, it's also time for Bush-Cheney to hail the president's education reforms or call Kerry weak on national security.

Voters already are grumbling about the early volume of campaign ads, and some strategists question whether the ad blitz amounts to too much too soon. Voters could become numb to the campaign messages by the time the contest reaches the decisive final months.

The campaigns won't release details of their advertising spending, but the competitors closely track what the other side is spending. These internal estimates point to a trend few imagined a few months ago: Democrats are nearly keeping up with Bush in TV ads, thanks to heavy spending by independently operated Democratic groups. Between March 3 and May 27, the Bush-Cheney campaign spent an estimated $13.97-million in Florida's 10 television markets. Kerry spent $6.9-million statewide, but his anti-Bush message was supplemented by $6.6-million of ads from independent liberal groups including MoveOn.org, the Media Fund and the AFL-CIO.

After the Federal Election Commission this month declined to clamp down on such liberal interest groups, Republicans are expected soon to rev up their own organizations to fund TV commercials.

Dubbed "527" organizations after the IRS code section under which they operate, these groups can evade new restrictions preventing national parties from receiving unlimited campaign contributions. Though they can't coordinate with the campaigns, they do coordinate closely with one another. The Democratic groups share the same media buyer who never airs ads from more than one group at a time in Florida.

From Pensacola to Miami, every area of Florida is being exposed to the ad campaigns. The most targeted market: the Tampa Bay area, which was blessed with more than $7.3-million of ads between March 3 and May 27. That should come as no surprise, say campaign strategists.

"Tampa is the most important media market because it has the most persuadable voters," said Marcus Jadotte, deputy campaign manager for the Kerry campaign. "You start in Tampa, you do Orlando and then you do Palm Beach. Everywhere else comes after that."

Bush is buying a relatively even wave of ads across the state, though he bought the greatest volume of ads in the Tampa Bay and Fort Myers markets. The biggest chunk of Bush-Cheney money - nearly $4.2-million - went to the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market. That's Florida's most expensive TV market and serves the biggest concentration of Democratic voters, as well as Republican Cuban-Americans. Democrats have spent just $1.6-million there.

Kerry and the other Democratic groups are targeting their money along the so-called I-4 corridor, which includes Tampa Bay and the Orlando area. They spent $4.3-million in Tampa Bay and $3.7-million in Orlando, while Bush spent $2.9-million in Tampa Bay and $2.3-million in the Orlando area.

"Kerry figures he can recapture his base in Miami-Dade and Broward County, but if he loses the independent voter in the I-4 corridor, he may never get it back," surmised Robin Rorapaugh, a veteran Democratic strategist who works for U.S. Rep. Peter Deutsch, D-Hollywood.

Campaigns tend to favor news and other shows that attract older audiences and more reliable voters. In the Tampa Bay area, a 30-second political ad costs anywhere from several hundred dollars to several thousand. The heavy early dose of political ads is driving up rates and giving Florida TV stations unexpected added revenue.

"It's coming fast and furious," WFLA-Ch. 8 general manager Eric Land said of the campaign advertising. "We didn't expect to see presidential funds until later in the summer."

Bush and Kerry opted out of the federal campaign finance system for primary season, which means both are permitted unlimited spending until their party nominating conventions. After that the campaigns will accept public financing and be limited to about $75-million each in campaign spending.

Polls show a dead-heat race in Florida, so the ad wars are unlikely to abate any time soon. Some voters suggest the sheer volume is creating a backlash.

Sharri Nix of St. Petersburg has gotten to the point where she simply tunes out when George Bush or John Kerry appear on her TV screen. "It's just a lot more garble for people to listen to," the development company employee said of all the presidential ads.

Dick Carroll of St. Pete Beach is stunned how many ads are running so far before election day, and he's fed up with the negativity.

"They don't say what they're going to do, they just say what the other guy did wrong," the swimming pool company worker said. "You turn on the TV news and that's all you see."

As it is, Bush-Cheney senior adviser Matthew Dowd said the TV advertising from both campaigns has been undercut by all the news from Iraq in recent weeks. But that doesn't mean the ads will slow down much. "The ads' effectiveness, the Kerry ads and our ads, have diminished from what it was in March and April because of the news environment, but I think they still have some effect," Dowd said Tuesday, while discussing a new ad accusing Kerry of flip-flopping on his position on the Patriot Act.

In fact, the political ad wars are probably just starting. Republican state House Speaker and U.S. Senate candidate Johnnie Byrd this week unveiled his first TV ads in the crowded Senate race. Coming soon to a TV near you will be a slew of additional Senate ads from other candidates.

- Adam C. Smith can be reached at 727 893-8241 or adam@sptimes.com

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