North Carolina TV ad buys

by | Jun 2, 2016 | Ads, Editor's Blog | 1 comment

If you’re a political junkie like me, there’s a great web site run by the Sunlight Foundation called Political Ad Sleuth. It’s a little clunky but it tells who is buying TV ads on which stations and when they are buying them. The information has always been public, but it used to be available only at the stations themselves or from well-connected media buyers. Now, it’s open to the public.

The site is great for transparency, offering insight into campaign strategy and showing which organizations are playing in the state. For instance, the North Carolina Chamber is on television supporting Bob Edmunds for Supreme Court. Pat McCrory, Roy Cooper, and Josh Stein are already securing air time for the fall campaign. A super-PAC called American Foundations Committee is supporting George Holding.  And Club For Growth is in the race supporting somebody.

In the Raleigh market, the Republican Congressional primaries are dominating the ad buys. George Holding and Renee Ellmers are spending loads of money in their battle to be the 2nd District nominee. Richard Hudson and Tim D’ Annunzio are also on the air in their bid to face me, though Hudson has been on the air for almost the entire month of May and D ‘Annunzio is just getting up this week.

The site also shows the folly of our current finance system. The Republican Governor’s Association is up in the Raleigh Market spending money on “non-candidate issue ads.” That’s a crock. Those ads are clearly for the candidate Pat McCrory. All the Super-PAC ads are “non-candidate.” They’re not fooling anyone but they are staying within the limits of the law, which means the law is clearly broken.

The site also explains movement we’ve seen in recent polls in the governor’s race. The Republican Governors Association has been running ads in every major market throughout the month of May and into June on behalf of McCrory. NC Families First, a Super-PAC supporting Cooper, is up in Charlotte but no other markets that I can tell.

While the state is wild about House Bill 2 and progressives believe the national attention is hurting Republicans, the GOP is shoring up their governor now and not waiting for the fall. Public polls have shown Cooper moving from positive territory to negative territory and the race is at a dead heat. Civitas shows Cooper trailing by five in its latest poll after showing the Attorney General leading by ten in April.

If the polls are right, Political Ad Sleuth shows the power of television. In a relatively short amount of time, McCrory, with the help of the RGA, has improved his numbers while eroding Cooper’s support. HB2 might be all the rage but TV ads are still the most powerful tools to sway public opinion. It’s still early, but I’d feel a lot better if the Democratic Governors Association or somebody would jump in feet first for Cooper.

1 Comment

  1. Killing Main Street

    I don’t think politicians are really getting the benefit their big dollars think. The fact is the public can mute, change the channel and threaten the TV stations with “stop this now”. Or, have you seen the ad by Richard Hudson, lone man fighting Obama and ISIS. Nothing more enjoyable than making fun of these fools.

    The public should demand the only contact we have with this worthless POS is by snail mail.

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