Iowans who tuned in to WHO-TV on Tuesday got an extra dose of presidential politics with their 6 o’clock news. The half-hour program contained eight spots for candidates: two for Barack Obama, and one each for Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Mitt Romney, Tom Tancredo and Mike Huckabee. A union weighed in with a plug for Clinton.
That was mild compared with the political static 1,300 miles east, in New Hampshire, where the evening broadcast on Manchester’s WMUR featured 13 political messages — more than half of all ads during the 30-minute program — including three for Clinton and Romney, and two apiece for Obama and John McCain.
The two stations are reaping a cash bonanza from their states’ earliest-to-vote status. WMUR, owned by Hearst-Argyle Television Inc., received more than $900,000 in political advertising last week alone, according to the New York-based Television Bureau of Advertising. In Iowa last week, campaigns spent $1.5 million on local broadcasters, boosting their revenue by an average of 37 percent, according to the TVB.
