2008 Woodie Awards
Romney cashes in with win
By: Mike Ellis
Issue date: 1/16/08 Section: News
So the big story of Tuesday night (besides American Idol's premiere) was Mitt Romney winning Michigan's primary.
The man spent more than $2 million in advertising in the state, or about 20 cents per person in the state. At that rate, Romney could win all of the states' primaries for the bargain price of $60 million.
While 20 cents per person does not seem very much, it's more than twice what number two John McCain spent ($743,910). Romney outspent Dennis Kucinich by 203 times. Kucinich had far fewer total votes, but I expect he will end up with more votes per dollar than Romney (he'd only need 2,000 votes in the state).
According to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, 95 percent of the big spenders win their primary election in Michigan. But Director Rich Robinson said that could be meaningless in a year where so many debates and so much news coverage have narrowed the gap between big and little spenders.
I didn't see any of the ads on television. Most of them were run on network television (only Mike Huckabee devoted resources to cable ads), where a strike and holiday busyness has crippled new programming and made me into even more of an Internet junkie.
Romney led competitors in Internet advertising nationwide with $100 million from January 2007 to Dec. 16, 2007. Romney and McCain accounted for an overwhelming 70 percent of the online display ads, while Democratic candidate Barack Obama had about 27 percent. The remaining however-many-are-left split the difference. Clinton, noticeably, accounted for less than one percent.
But official ads are boring affairs that have tested out all the fun. That's why the best ad from Michigan, at least for me and certainly most popular among the Web media, was a video produced by unknown Andy Cobbon encouraging Democrats to vote for Romney (Democrats for Romney, search for the video). The push is to split the Republican field and take advantage of the lack of Democrats on the ballot.
Election hijinks aside, campaign finance records will be released soon, allowing a look at the financial health of the campaigns. That at least should be as influential as any single primary. The debate in Las Vegas (why didn't Soaring Eagle think of a casino debate?) could be the top story in today's papers. In other words, the focus on Michigan is either going or gone.
Nice for the candidates to stop by - at least those who did. Hope to see you soon.
news@cm-life.com
The man spent more than $2 million in advertising in the state, or about 20 cents per person in the state. At that rate, Romney could win all of the states' primaries for the bargain price of $60 million.
While 20 cents per person does not seem very much, it's more than twice what number two John McCain spent ($743,910). Romney outspent Dennis Kucinich by 203 times. Kucinich had far fewer total votes, but I expect he will end up with more votes per dollar than Romney (he'd only need 2,000 votes in the state).
According to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, 95 percent of the big spenders win their primary election in Michigan. But Director Rich Robinson said that could be meaningless in a year where so many debates and so much news coverage have narrowed the gap between big and little spenders.
I didn't see any of the ads on television. Most of them were run on network television (only Mike Huckabee devoted resources to cable ads), where a strike and holiday busyness has crippled new programming and made me into even more of an Internet junkie.
Romney led competitors in Internet advertising nationwide with $100 million from January 2007 to Dec. 16, 2007. Romney and McCain accounted for an overwhelming 70 percent of the online display ads, while Democratic candidate Barack Obama had about 27 percent. The remaining however-many-are-left split the difference. Clinton, noticeably, accounted for less than one percent.
But official ads are boring affairs that have tested out all the fun. That's why the best ad from Michigan, at least for me and certainly most popular among the Web media, was a video produced by unknown Andy Cobbon encouraging Democrats to vote for Romney (Democrats for Romney, search for the video). The push is to split the Republican field and take advantage of the lack of Democrats on the ballot.
Election hijinks aside, campaign finance records will be released soon, allowing a look at the financial health of the campaigns. That at least should be as influential as any single primary. The debate in Las Vegas (why didn't Soaring Eagle think of a casino debate?) could be the top story in today's papers. In other words, the focus on Michigan is either going or gone.
Nice for the candidates to stop by - at least those who did. Hope to see you soon.
news@cm-life.com
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