Democrats Spend $3.5 Million on N.H. Primary Ad Blitz

The Democratic presidential candidates spent $3.5 million on television advertisements in New Hampshire during a one-week blitz leading up to today’s primary, with Howard Dean accounting for nearly a third of that total, data compiled for the Los Angeles Times show.

While Dean and Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts concentrated on New Hampshire following the Jan. 19 Iowa caucuses, other contenders hedged their bets with media buys in several other states that would vote in coming weeks.

Retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark spread his money far and wide. He ran TV spots in seven states that hold primaries and caucuses in February, from Arizona to Wisconsin.

These spending patterns illuminate how the candidates are targeting early-voting states -- focusing heavily on some and, for now, ignoring others.

The data, provided to The Times on Monday by an independent advertising monitor, include money spent on ads broadcast in the week that ended at midnight Saturday.

Dean spent about $1.15 million during that period on ads reaching New Hampshire voters, nearly twice as much as his closest competitor.

If money talks, that speaks volumes about the importance Dean has placed on a strong finish in New Hampshire following his third place showing in Iowa. It also reflects the advantage Dean has gained by opting out of the public financing system and the state spending limits that come with it.

“Dean has obviously taken the New Hampshire-first approach here,” said Evan Tracey, chief operating officer of TNSMI/Campaign Media Analysis Group, the Virginia company that provided the data. Many of the Dean ads, Tracey said, were one-minute biographical spots, “almost like he’s trying to start over with a lot of these voters.”

None of Dean’s ads in New Hampshire last week mentioned his rivals by name -- a departure from his combative strategy in Iowa, where he aired a late spot that criticized Kerry, North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt for votes supporting the war in Iraq.

In one 30-second ad broadcast in the New Hampshire run-up, a narrator says Dean has stood up “for what’s right, even when it’s not popular” as the screen flashes a reminder that he signed into law a landmark bill allowing gay couples in Vermont to enter into civil unions. The ad also says that “other Democrats were silent” while President Bush made plans for the Iraq war and his economic agenda, but no rivals are mentioned by name. The piece ends with a smiling Dean.

Other candidates have been striking similarly sunny poses, wary of turning voters off with negative messages. The only acceptable target appears to be Bush.

“The tone seems very positive right now,” said Joel Rivlin, deputy director of the Wisconsin Advertising Project, which monitors TV campaigns at the University of Wisconsin. “There really hasn’t been that much direct naming and shaming of opponents in New Hampshire.”

Kerry, who hopes his win in Iowa will translate into victory in New Hampshire, spent more than $600,000 each on ads for the week -- including an upbeat spot highlighting his endorsements from the League of Conservation Voters and the Concord Monitor and Boston Globe newspapers.

Clark and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman also spent more than $600,000 during the last full week of campaigning in New Hampshire. Edwards, seeking to grab a top-tier spot after his surge to second place in Iowa, spent more than $425,000 on TV for the week.

Lieberman aired a spot that seemed to jab at Dean for antiwar statements. It showed a statue of Saddam Hussein falling in Baghdad last year as a narrator said: “Only one candidate was clear we are safer with Saddam Hussein in prison, not in power: Joe Lieberman.” The script, while not naming the former Vermont governor, appeared to be a response to Dean’s assertion that Hussein’s capture did not make the United States any safer.

The week’s ads culminated a months-long blitz in New Hampshire. Since June 1, Dean has spent $2.7 million there on TV. Kerry, who like Dean opted out of public financing, has spent about $2.6 million. Lieberman, who is taking public funds, has spent about $2.2 million. The other candidates have spent less than $2 million each.

While New Hampshire was a cacophony of political ads, Missouri has been silent. Not one candidate has waged a TV campaign in the state that has the most delegates at stake next Tuesday. With Gephardt’s exit following his fourth-place finish in Iowa, that may soon change. Missouri will be a costly prize because air time in St. Louis and Kansas City is expensive.

Still, Clark, Lieberman and Edwards spent considerable sums last week on TV ads in other states that vote next month, reflecting their strategy of seeking wins in the South and Southwest.

Clark introduced himself to viewers in South Carolina, Arizona, Oklahoma and New Mexico (all have primaries or caucuses next Tuesday); Virginia and Tennessee (Feb. 10); and Wisconsin (Feb. 17). He was spending money saved bypassing Iowa.

Lieberman and Edwards ran ads in South Carolina and Oklahoma, and Lieberman was on the air in Arizona.

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Campaign costs

Each Democratic presidential candidate’s estimated spending on broadcast television advertising for the New Hampshire primary in the week that ended at midnight Saturday.

Howard Dean...$1.15 million

Wesley K. Clark...$644,000

Joe Lieberman...$625,000

John F. Kerry...$607,000

John Edwards...$426,000

Dennis J. Kucinich...$47,000

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Source: TNSMI/Campaign Media Analysis Group, based in Arlington, Va.