WASHINGTON — It is not even Labor Day and negative political ads are muscling in on your TV time. Across the country, ad spending is up, and attack ads lead the way.
As of this week, candidates for state and federal office had spent $395 million on ads for the November elections, compared with $286 million at this point in the 2006 midterms. More than half the ads have been negative.
Political parties and outside groups have been more negative, going on the attack in nearly 80 percent of their ads while spending $150 million, $41 million ahead of the 2006 pace.
The numbers — compiled by Evan Tracey, who tracks political ads as president of CMAG, a division of Kantar Media — reflect a need by candidates and their allies to define opponents quickly to an increasingly engaged electorate. Those who don’t have paid the price.
Bill McCollum, running for Florida governor, and Lisa Murkowski, running for re-election as senator from Alaska, might have fought back too late in their respective Republican primaries. Their opponents attacked them early and often, costing McCollum the election Tuesday and leaving a stunned Murkowski on the edge of defeat.
In Arizona, Sen. John McCain beat his primary challenger, former Rep. J.D. Hayworth, with a fierce advertising counterpunch, proving what politicians hate to admit — negative wins.
And in Nevada, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, his GOP opponent and the outside groups that are helping them could set the tone for the remainder of the year in a campaign that would scorch the Mojave Desert.
Nevada ranks among the top five states for negative ads this year. The others are Pennsylvania, Florida, California and Alabama, Tracey said.
The onslaught seeks to influence an electorate that is anxious and angry over the economy and demanding change. In that environment, undecided and independent voters are less likely to wait to make up their minds.
“The concrete is setting up early,” said Wes Anderson, a Republican pollster working on House contests.
The explosion in pre-Labor Day advertising also comes amid a high number of contested primaries, a growing move toward early voting, and more lax campaign-finance rules that make it easier for corporations and unions to participate in elections.
