Christmas may be cancelled, at least in Iowa, according to this Advertising Age story. Ira Teinowitz reports:
TV spending on the 2008 presidential campaign is climbing so fast in the Hawkeye State that between now and the Jan. 3 primaries it threatens to overwhelm outlays by holiday-related marketers. As of Oct. 22, spending in Iowa by four presidential hopefuls alone has reached a combined $8.7 million, according to TNS Media Intelligence's Campaign Media Analysis Group. Already, two candidates - Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney - each have spent $2.6 million in the state, equivalent to the total Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry heaped on Iowa during 2004 when he won the Democratic presidential nomination. Bill Richardson, with a $1.9 million Iowa outlay, isn't far behind. New York Sen. Hillary Clinton spent only $1.6 million so far, but has been steadily increasing spending.
Iowa is where the Democratic candidates have spent the most money on television ads and, not incidentally, the Democratic race is most competitive there. How will Clinton's increased media spending affect her numbers? And now that the other Democratic candidates have attacked Clinton and realized that she actually is vulnerable, when will the negative media begin?