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Ad battleground shifts to Eastern Iowa
Erin Jordan
Oct. 26, 2014 1:00 am, Updated: Oct. 26, 2014 5:07 pm
CEDAR RAPIDS - Candidates for Iowa's open U.S. Senate seat have purchased more TV commercials in the Cedar Rapids/Waterloo/Dubuque market than in any other market around the state.
With 8,300 TV spots from Sept. 11 through Oct. 15, Corridor TV viewers were inundated with an average 237 ads per day for U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley and Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst alone - not to mention all those other candidates running for public office.
Ernst, Braley and their respective supporters spent $13.9 million on TV ads that started airing on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox affiliates across the state from Sept. 11 to Oct. 15, according to an analysis by eight Iowa news organizations that include The Gazette, the Des Moines Register and the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier.
Of this, $3.5 million flowed to the Cedar Rapids/Waterloo/Dubuque TV market. Only the Quad Cities market received more, with $5.1 million during this period.
'Once you get the Des Moines market down, you have to shift to other markets in the state,” said Chris Larimer, an associate professor of political science at the University of Northern Iowa. 'You spread out to Eastern Iowa were the voters are.”
$27.7 million so far
The candidates and their supporters have spent at least $27.7 million on TV advertising in the high-profile race since the June 3 primary.
The most spots - nearly 17,000 - have been purchased in the Cedar Rapids/Waterloo/Dubuque market since the campaign began. The candidates and their supporters have bought 12,600 spots in the Quad Cities and nearly 12,000 in Des Moines.
At the low end, the Omaha-Council Bluffs market has seen just 111 spots since June 4.
Cedar Rapids/Waterloo/Dubuque is third-highest in overall TV spending in the U.S. Senate race with $6.2 million, compared to $8.7 million in the Quad Cities and $8.2 million in Des Moines/Ames. This indicates TV spots are cheaper in the Cedar Rapids market.
During the first three months of the campaign, Braley and his supporters spent $470,000 more than Ernst in the Cedar Rapids/Waterloo/Dubuque market - where Braley has been a U.S. representative since 2007.
Ernst and her supporters, on the other hand, spent $113,600 more in the first three months in the Sioux City market, which reaches more conservative voters in northwest Iowa.
But that shifted from Sept. 11 through Oct. 15, when Ernst and her supporters spent $200,000 more than Braley in Cedar Rapids/Waterloo/Dubuque.
'Initially she was probably trying to consolidate the base (after the Republican primary),” said Tim Hagle, a University of Iowa political science professor. 'By the end, you need to reach into areas that are a little bit of your opponent's turf.”
Iowa's 1st District has 22,300 more active Democrats than active Republicans, according to October data from the Iowa Secretary of State's Office. But Ernst and Braley are fighting over the district's 188,500 active independent voters, Hagle said.
Interest groups shift
The group of outside interest groups supporting Braley and Ernst has changed since the first part of the campaign.
Americans for Prosperity and Concerned Veterans for America - both supported by the Wichita, Kan.-based brothers David Koch and Charles Koch - bought no new ads for Ernst between Sept. 11 and Oct. 15. Political science professors said this may be because Braley's campaign hammered Ernst for her link to the Kochs.
'It may very well have been those groups saying, ‘We're hurting Joni Ernst's campaign. We'll advertise elsewhere,'” Hagle said.
But other groups have filled the void. Ernst paid for only about 10 percent of the $7.05 million of the pro-Ernst ads that started airing Sept. 11 through Oct. 15. She obtained support from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the NRA Political Victory Fund, American Chemistry Council and Conservative War Chest.
Braley's campaign funded about 20 percent of his ads during the most recent review period, with pro-labor groups AFSCME People, Service Employees International Union COPE and the International Association of Firefighters chipping in toward the rest.
TV stations benefit
As you've probably noticed while watching network TV, political ads are hogging the airwaves.
From Sept. 29 through Oct. 26, political/issue ads made up 68 percent of KCRG-TV9's broadcast revenue, said Steve Lake, national sales director.
KCRG-TV9 is owned by the same parent company as The Gazette.
Larimer doesn't expect the blitz to stop in the nine days left before the Nov. 4 election.
'For the campaigns, they want to make sure people get to the polls,” he said. 'They will continue to bombard people they see as on the fence.”
About this story
This report is the result of a collaboration by eight news organizations located in television broadcast markets serving Iowa.
Ten reporters examined campaign advertising records that ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox network affiliates serving Iowa television markets filed with the Federal Communications Commission. Ads aired on cable stations or satellite networks such as Dish and DirecTV were not included.
The contracts detail the agreements by U.S. Senate campaigns and political action committees to purchase time when advertising will be aired. Information gathered included the name of the committee making the purchase, the dates the ad spots began airing and ended, the number of spots included in each purchase and the gross amount spent.
The news organizations examined ad buys that began airing between Sept. 11 and Oct. 15.
Each newspaper submitted the data it gathered to the Des Moines Register, which assembled the statewide database, offered analysis and returned the data set to partner newspapers for use in compiling their own news stories.
Partner news organizations and reporters gathering the data include: The Gazette, Erin Jordan; Des Moines Register, William Petroski, Jason Noble and Aric West; Dubuque Telegraph Herald, Ben Jacobson; Omaha World-Herald, Maggie O'Brien; Ottumwa Courier, Matt Milner; Quad-City Times, Ed Tibbetts; Sioux City Journal, Bret Hayworth; Waterloo Courier, Christinia Crippes.