The night before Election Day, Scott Peters will be on Dancing with the Stars and his congressional opponent Brian Bilbray will be on Wheel of Fortune.
Think that’s impressive? Democrat Peters will appear between plays of the NFL game Sunday between the Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers. But Republican incumbent Bilbray will come back Monday with a spot on Ellen, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, who gleefully backs President Obama.
Strange bedfellows indeed.
When it comes to TV commercials for the biggest political battle in San Diego County, you buy what you can afford and reach everyone you can.
Super PACs and conventional campaign committees are pumping millions of dollars into the 52nd Congressional District—considered a key race by both parties. The exact amounts may never be known.
But anyone can see where Bilbray and Peters are spending their TV money by clicking a set of links or paying a visit to KUSI at 4575 Viewridge Ave. in Kearny Mesa.
The Federal Communications Commission requires the top four stations in the 50 biggest U.S. media markets to post candidate contracts online at stations.fcc.gov.
In San Diego, that means NBC affiliate KNSD (Channel 39), CBS affiliate KFMB (Channel 8), ABC’s KGTV (Channel 10) and Fox’s KSWB (Channel 60) update their so-called political files regularly.
Recent samples are attached to this article.
But independent station KUSI, being No. 5 in the San Diego market, is required only to make its candidate files available during regular office hours. Patch paid a visit in mid-October and photocopied a major sampling of the Peters and Bilbray filings.
The new U-T TV—the cable and web-based TV station—isn’t required to keep similar records.
“U-T TV has no requirement to have a political file,” said Brian Musick, sales manager of the station that launched in May. “We are not an FCC-licensed station.”
In the past several months, KUSI alone has made “millions” of dollars from political ads, said Tim McCarthy, the station’s national sales manager. And among the visitors to his station to see his political files have been representatives of other TV stations.
That’s because the 30-second ad rates paid by political campaigns are a public record—although they reflect the best rates available to advertisers making long-term purchases, as mandated by the FCC.
Still, the Peters and Bilbray campaigns—as well as outside Democratic and Republican groups, such as Washington-based congressional campaign committees—are paying a pretty penny.
Some spots are cheaper than others.
Bilbray’s campaign will pay $125 for a 30-second spot on KNSD’s Steve Harvey show Monday. But later that day, it will be charged $625 for a spot on Ellen.
When Peters’ single ad appears Monday night on Dancing with the Stars, however, he’ll pay $3,000.
For two spots on NFL on Fox this Sunday, Peters will pay a total of $6,000.
Overall, in the final eight days of the election, Peters will pay a net $25,351, according to his filings. And that’s for only one TV station—Fox’s KSWB. His first TV spot of the general election aired Sept. 12.
Bilbray—whose commercials range from attacks on Peters to heart-rending appeals from his cancer-stricken daughter—will pay $1,875 for a single spot on Wheel of Fortune the night before the election, filings show.
The San Diego Reader reported that Grover Norquist and his Americans for Tax Reform foundation have spent more than $1.4 million on TV ads attacking Peters.
According to an Associated Press report Wednesday, the 52nd District race will be among the top 10 most expensive nationwide.
“In San Diego, where Republican Rep. Brian Bilbray is trying to fend off Democrat Scott Peters, outside groups as varied as Planned Parenthood and Americans for Tax Reform, headed by low-tax crusader Grover Norquist, had spent more than $7.4 million through Monday,” the AP reported.
Between Oct. 29 and Monday night, Bilbray is planning to run 18 spots at a net cost of $24,951.75 on KNSD alone.
The Democratic-backed House Majority PAC supplements Peters’ own spending with its own ad buys. In one contract, from Oct. 23 to Oct. 29, that PAC bought 87 spots at a cost of $73,850—on KGTV alone.
Because of the vagaries of politics—and TV schedules—both campaigns filed dozens of revisions to their ad buys. And stations also offer “make goods”—adding spots when the originals don’t achieve the promised ratings or viewership.
To see what other candidates and proposition backers and opponents are spending on local TV, check out these Public Files links via the FCC site.
(Type in a station’s call letters and click the icon that looks like a red star hanging from a blue ribbon.)
Hypocrite. Here is an example of exploitation of daughters: "I've got two daughters. 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby." http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0308/Punished_with_a_baby.html Assuming Obama is a man, what business does he have meddling with females??
no other real reason.. doug
He has an ad that blames Bilbray for, among other things, the $16 trillion national debt. Really??? (Coming from a man who isn't exactly known for fiscal conservatism, that's rich.) Also, that would seem to suggest (rightly, I know) that such debt is a decidedly *bad* thing, right? (Not sure that President Obama would appreciate that very much.) Also (in the same ad, I think), he suggests that Bilbray would somehow prevent women from having access to contraceptives??? I had no idea that Congressman Bilbray was so powerful! (Some have gone so far as to say that he has a mixed record regarding his stance on abortion, so it doesn't seem likely that he is anti-contraception, as if his stance on that mattered anyway.) I do thank Peters for providing some levity this political season, even if unintentionally-so. :)
If I was dying and thought my dad actually had some insight into curing cancer, I would do a commercial too. She's been manipulated by the love of her father. I do feel horrible for her.