NRSC makes major early ad buys for November election - The Hill's Ballot Box

NRSC makes major early ad buys for November election - The Hill's Ballot Box

I picked up this article from Senator Tester's Facebook feed. Why is this important? Three reasons.

 1. It demonstrates how hard it will be to buy time in the fall with all the added interest group money coming into the state.The NRSC is tipping its hand early, which suggests that the need to lock up that time outweighs the risk of letting the candidates and the DSCC know what they're doing.

2. It will be harder for the candidates--especially those down ballot--to buy media time close to the election.

3. The amount the NRSC is committing to this race is enormous given the cost of advertising in Montana. In 2006, according to MSU-Billings political science professor Craig Wilson's chapter on the Tester-Burns race, the DSCC spent $1.9 million on television ads in support of Tester's bid to unseat Senator Conrad Burns. The NRSC that same year spent $608,000 on TV supporting Senator Burns' reelection bid. The volume of money of money being spent by the Republicans is indicative of how important they view this race to gaining the Senate majority. Records in Montana will be broken without a doubt.

If there's a big difference between the 2006 and 2012 Senate races, it's this: the sheer volume of money flooding into Montana and its unprecedented scale.