ASSOCIATED PRESS
The good citizens of Iowa are getting an eyeful and an earful of political ads these days, far more than before, even for one of the epicenters of presidential politics.
In the past week, four Democratic White House contenders and two Republicans have spread their messages on radio and television in the state, more than four months before Iowa is scheduled to hold its first-in-the-nation caucuses and weeks before the traditional post-Labor Day commencement of the campaign season.
So far, the 2008 presidential candidates have spent at least $5 million on ads in Iowa, about $25 for each expected caucus participant.
The ad pitches vary.
Democratic candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, in her first ad of the campaign this month, cast herself as a caring guardian of Americans who are invisible to Washington. Her Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois presents himself as an agent of hope and unity.
Among Republicans, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is condemning New York’s immigration policies, a not-so-subtle dig at rival Rudolph W. Giuliani, the city’s former mayor. Mr. Giuliani is running a radio ad promoting his support for a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Mr. Romney and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat, have been the most aggressive advertisers, each already approaching or surpassing the amounts spent by Democrats John Kerry and Howard Dean during the entire Iowa caucus campaign of 2003 and 2004.
That more money is being spent is hardly surprising. Candidates are raising amounts of cash that are shattering records.
“There are several things that are different: The money race, the amount of attention both nationally and in the early states that this race is getting and the number of candidates who are largely blank slates who are aggressively trying to fill in those blanks before their opponents do,” said Stephanie Cutter, a Democratic strategist who was Mr. Kerry’s campaign communications director in 2004.
Political advertising in Iowa, and to a lesser degree in the first primary state of New Hampshire, has been growing even though more than a dozen states want to hold nominating contests on Feb. 5 and other states are jockeying for January slots.
The Iowa focus underscores a strategy that many of the candidates appear to embrace: that a good showing in Iowa will build momentum for subsequent contests.
“Iowa is going to rise to a level that you’ve probably never seen before,” said Evan Tracey, who tracks political advertising as chief operating officer for TNS Media Intelligence/Campaign Media Analysis Group. “The wild card is does anybody venture into these Super Tuesday states — how soon and how far out are they going to play in these February 5 states.”
Democrats have been far more eager to run ads than Republicans.
Mr. Giuliani, blessed with high name recognition and a perch atop national polls, has not felt a need to hit the airwaves with an overarching campaign message. His radio ads are designed to counter Mr. Romney’s immigration criticism.
“Romney recognizes that immigration is still a red-hot issue with primary voters,” said Scott Reed, a Republican strategist who managed Bob Dole’s presidential campaign in 1996. “Giuliani feels he’s a little on the defense.”
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