campaign commercials Archives

It’s become clear by this point in the presidential campaign that voters who support Donald Trump are inured to his most outrageous proposals and ridiculous policy positions. But how inured are they? Triumph the Insult Comic Dog explores that question in a series of focus groups testing potential TV ads.

Of course, to date, Trump has spent $00.00 on television advertising while the networks have given him $2 billion worth of free coverage, so it’s unlikely he’ll shell out for these ads — unless he has another week like the last one …

Trump Still Hasn’t Spent Any Money on TV Ads

August 10, 2016 Buck Banks

0

Amount Donald Trump’s campaign has spent on TV ads, though nearly $100 million has been spent on general-election TV advertisements in the presidential race since the primary season ended, NBC News reports.

Voters Report Seeing Phantom Trump Ads

July 13, 2016 Buck Banks

46%

“Of voters in a recent survey said they had seen TV ads supporting Donald Trump in the last week. There’s just one problem: His campaign hasn’t aired any, and his friendly super PACs have run very few,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “Meanwhile, 52% of respondents said they had seen an ad promoting Democrat Hillary Clinton—just six percentage points more than the proportion who said they had spotted Trump ads.”

Clinton Outspending Trump 15 to 1 on Advertising

July 13, 2016 Buck Banks

$57 million

Amount Hillary Clinton and her allies have spent “so far in the general election — $25 million coming from the campaign and another $32 million from pro-Clinton Super PACs. By comparison, Team Trump has aired $3.6 million in ads, with all of the spending from two outside groups.”Donald Trump and his backers over the airwaves by a 15-to-1 margin,” NBC News reports.

Outside Groups Beginning to See TV Ads as a Waste

January 25, 2016 Buck Banks

It’s a complete waste of money, and I think people are starting to figure that out.

— GOP strategist Barry Bennett, quoted by the Los Angeles Times, on the money spent by outside groups on television advertising.

TV Ad Spend to Exceed 2012 by 16 Percent

August 31, 2015 Buck Banks

$4.4 billion

Kantar Media’s prediction of overall television ad spending for the 2016 elections, up roughly 16% from the $3.8 billion candidates and outside groups laid out for cable and broadcast ads in 2012, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Tell Chuck DeVore Barbara Boxer Is Real, ‘Jack Bauer’ Is Not

May 28, 2010June 3, 2010 Buck Banks

Chuck DeVore, the conservative Republican trying to unseat Calif. Sen. Barbara Boxer in the midterms, has one of the stupidest campaign commercials ever.

For one thing, he’s cornier than the tea baggers, and while I’m sure he means it to be a joke, he seems to treat “Jack Bauer,” Keifer Sutherland’s character on the TV show “24” as if he were a real person.

Plus, it has video of him mowing his lawn and audio of him getting shot at by Syrians in Israel, and as much other self-serving, gratuitous crapola that can be dumped into a 3.5-minute video.

$6 million

$80 million

0

Amount Donald Trump’s campaign has spent on TV ads, though nearly $100 million has been spent on general-election TV advertisements in the presidential race since the primary season ended, NBC News reports.

46%

$57 million

It’s a complete waste of money, and I think people are starting to figure that out.

— GOP strategist Barry Bennett, quoted by the Los Angeles Times, on the money spent by outside groups on television advertising.

$4.4 billion

Kantar Media’s prediction of overall television ad spending for the 2016 elections, up roughly 16% from the $3.8 billion candidates and outside groups laid out for cable and broadcast ads in 2012, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Poetic Justice

Verbatim

“Yes they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.”

— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), accusing Democrats of creating Hurricane Helene for political purposes.

“Liberty in Georgia includes in its meaning, in its protections, and in its bundle of rights the power of a woman to control her own body, to decide what happens to it and in it, and to reject state interference with her healthcare choices.”

— Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney finding that Georgia’s six-week abortion law violates Georgia’s Constitution, reports the AP.

“Maybe we’ll pay off the $35 trillion US debt in crypto. I’ll write on a little piece of paper ‘$35 trillion crypto we have no debt.’ That’s what I like.”

— Donald Trump, floating a plan to address the federal budget deficit and demonstrating his deep understanding of the crypto marketplace.

“To my friends in Nebraska, that one electoral vote could be the difference between Harris being president and not, and she’s a disaster for Nebraska and the world.”

— Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), quoted by Politico, on his trip to Nebraska to push for the state’s Republican leadership to change how it awards its electoral votes.

“I will if he does. That’s a trade-off I’d do.”

— George Clooney, on Jimmy Kimmel Live, responding to Donald Trump’s call for him “to get out of politics.”

Numerati

49% to 46%

Latest results from the New York Times-Siena College poll giving Vice Pres. Kamala Harris a 3-point lead over Donald Trump. This is a noteworthy change in the NYT poll results, which have generally favored Trump in contrast to reputable organizations.

254,000

“The pace of hiring picked up strongly in September and the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1%, signs the economy had continued momentum in a month the Federal Reserve delivered its first interest-rate cut in four years,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

49% to 44%

A new Susquehanna poll finds Kamala Harris leading Donald Trump nationally among likely voters, 49% to 44%.

40 trillion

$55 million

Kamala Harris raised about $55 million in high-dollar events in California this weekend, a haul that pads her financial advantage over Donald Trump, Bloomberg reports.