Iowa, Michigan bombarded with political ads
A warning to voters in Iowa and Michigan: Exercise extreme caution when turning on your television.
During the second week of September, candidates, parties and other politically active groups sponsored about 4,500 U.S. Senate race-focused TV ads in each state, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of preliminary estimates from Kantar Media/CMAG, an advertising tracking service.
That’s nearly one ad every two minutes.
The Senate races in Iowa and Michigan — both are open-seat contests because Democratic incumbents are retiring — have this month emerged as two of the nation’s hottest as Republicans battle Democrats for control of Congress’ upper chamber.
Voters have been “inundated with advertising,” said Barbara Trish, a professor of political science at Grinnell College in Iowa.
Related: Last week's TV ads in the 2014 battle for the Senate
“You can pretty much saturate [Iowa],” she added, “for a lot less money” than many other parts of the country.
Only one other Senate contest attracted more ads from Tuesday, Sept. 9, through Monday, Sept. 15: North Carolina, where viewers saw about 4,800 ads, according to estimates by Kantar Media/CMAG.
There, incumbent Sen. Kay Hagan, a Democrat, is locked in an equally nasty and pricey battle with Republican challenger Thom Tillis, the state’s House majority leader.
The GOP must pick up at least six seats in November to wrest control of the Senate from Democrats.
In Michigan, Democratic Rep. Gary Peters is facing off against former Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land.
Related: Total TV ads in the 2014 battle for the Senate through Sept. 15
Land’s campaign aired more TV ads last week — 1,300, or about one ad every eight minutes — than any other candidate’s campaign except for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, according to estimates by Kantar Media/CMAG. McConnell is battling Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes for another six-year term.
Nevertheless, Land’s campaign was not the top sponsor of TV ads in Michigan’s Senate race from Sept. 9 through Sept. 15.
That distinction belongs to the NextGen Climate Action Committee, a liberal super PAC backed by billionaire environmentalist and former hedge fund executive Tom Steyer.
The group aired about 1,500 TV ads — or about one ad every seven minutes — that primarily slammed Land’s candidacy.
“Michigan needs a leader like Congressman Gary Peters, who will stand up for Michigan families and take on the special interests that threaten the state’s clean energy future,” said Sam Inglot, a spokesman for NextGen Climate Action in Michigan.
Related: Who's buying the Senate?
There’s more to this story. Click here to read the rest at the Center for Public Integrity.
This story is part of Buying the Senate 2014. Whether Republicans control both chambers of Congress squarely depends on Senate races in a handful of states. Click here to read more stories in this investigation.
Related stories
Copyright 2014 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.
