Obama ads overwhelm TV presence of McCain

WASHINGTON -- Democrat Barack Obama, who is on track to spend a record $230 million on television advertising, will punctuate his broadcast strategy Wednesday with prime-time commercials on CBS, NBC and Fox.

The three 30-minute ads, which cost Obama nearly $1 million apiece, mark the first time in 16 years that a White House hopeful has aired commercials of that length on broadcast networks. Billionaire Ross Perot paid for 11 half-hour ads during his unsuccessful 1992 bid as an independent.

Obama's ad spending will easily surpass the record $188 million President Bush spent in 2004, according to Evan Tracey of the Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks political ads. "Obama has rewritten the playbook on running a presidential campaign," he said. "There's nothing he can't afford to do."

Republican John McCain, who is limited to spending $84.1 million because he accepted taxpayer funds for the general election, has teamed up with the Republican National Committee to share advertising costs. They are likely to hit $130 million in TV ads by Election Day, Tracey said.

The advertising disparity "is one of our challenges, but we're still in this game," McCain senior aide Mark Salter said. "We feel it tightening."

Last week alone, Obama outspent McCain by 3-to-1 in TV ads. Both are spending in traditional battlegrounds such as Pennsylvania and GOP strongholds such as North Carolina.

"We are playing a lot more offense than defense" in states that Bush won four years ago, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said recently.

In his network gambit, Obama has tapped media consultant Mark Putnam to work on his ad. Putnam was behind New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's popular Job Interview spot during the Democratic primaries. In that ad, a bored interviewer ticks off Richardon's résumé before asking him, "So, what makes you think you can be president?"

CBS, NBC and Fox have juggled their schedules for the Obama ad, which airs at 8 p.m. ET. ABC and Obama could not reach a deal. If necessary, Fox will delay the start of the World Series game.