Obama and Allies Run More Ads than Romney in Key States

AP Photo

Despite all the hype about Republican SuperPacs and Mitt Romney's own robust fundraising, something strange has happened in this campaign: Obama and the Democrats have dominated the airwaves in virtually every major battleground media market.

The air war domination began this summer, and it has continued since the conventions.

A new study by the Wesleyan Media Project looks at advertising in the battleground states. In the three weeks after the conventions, Obama and Democratic groups ran more ads than Romney and Republican groups in 14 of the top 15 markets for this campaign.

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Only in Las Vegas have the Republicans ran more ads (and without much impact; Obama is ahead in most Nevada polls).

As you can see in the Wesleyan report, in most markets, it hasn't even been close. In Norfolk, Virginia, for example, Obama and allies ran 3,387 ads compared to just 1,583 for Romney and his allies.

When the history of this campaign is written, there could be be a chapter on how the Democrats managed to bury Romney with a barrage of [largely unanswered] negative ads in the battleground states.