Obama Buys Ad Time in New York

Brings Battle to Hillary Home Turf; Clinton Responds With Own Buy

Posted by Ira Teinowitz on 01.29.08 @ 03:18 PM

WASHINGTON (AdAge.com) -- Barack Obama's campaign is launching campaign ads in New York starting tomorrow in a surprise turn in the race for the Feb. 5 Super Tuesday vote.

Campaign manager David Plouffe announced the ads today, saying details of the creative will be announced later in the day.

The purchase by the Obama campaign of the country's most expensive market hadn't been expected, both because of the steep cost and because New York is Hillary Clinton's home state. It's expected to be in the neighborhood of a $750,000 buy and include news and entertainment programming, as well as "Wheel of Fortune," "Jeopardy" and "Oprah."

The Obama campaign launched advertising in Connecticut last week and has indicated New Jersey is a priority. On top of that, New York awards delegates proportionately rather than winner-take-all, meaning Mr. Obama could walk away with a sizeable number. Viewers in parts of both New Jersey and Connecticut watch New York stations. Mr. Plouffe said the campaign will also launch advertising in Philadelphia tomorrow and expand spending in Los Angeles.

Mr. Plouffe said a win in South Carolina has helped the campaign raise money and it's being spent on advertising for the Feb. 5 Super Tuesday states.

He said the campaign will have TV ads running in 16 of the more than 20 states, with radio running in 11 states.

UPDATE: The Clinton campaign late Tuesday did its own estimated $700,000 New York City media buy, its first of the campaign. The buy was in similar day parts and similar programming to the Obama campaign's ad buy.