Donald
Trump has received plenty of free publicity from the media for his 2016
presidential bid, but the Republican frontrunner’s campaign is reportedly about to open the billionaire’s war chest for a major TV ad blitz to bolster his candidacy ahead of the Iowa caucuses.
According to Fox News,
the “initial wave of ads” — which could cost upwards of $2 million a
week — will focus on Trump’s “vision and his stance on key issues … but
that could change if any GOP rivals target him with negative
commercials.”
This month, Right to Rise, the super-PAC supporting Jeb Bush’s campaign, made a $3 million ad buy for a 30-second spot aimed at Trump, proclaiming the former Florida governor “one candidate tough enough to take on the bully.”
The
TV ad, which ran in Iowa and New Hampshire, used a testy exchange
between the Republican hopefuls during the recent GOP debate in Las
Vegas.
“Donald, you’re not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency,” Bush told Trump.
The
real estate mogul subsequently fired back on Twitter, on television and
at his campaign rallies, but has yet to use his vast fortune to buy an
attack ad targeting Bush, who is lagging far behind in most national
polls.
Last month, the Trump campaign spent a scant $300,000 on a series of radio ads that ran in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. None called out Trump’s rivals by name.
“Our country is in deep trouble,” Trump said in one spot. “Because, let’s face it, politicians are all talk, no action.”
In
another, a woman promises Trump will “stop illegal immigration and drug
trafficking by building a wall on our southern border,” “brutally and
quickly cut off the head of ISIS” and “make our military so strong, no
country will ever mess with us.”
The
Trump campaign originally budgeted $25 million for advertising during
the third quarter of this year, according to the report, but scrapped
those plans as the brash billionaire continued to dominate each news
cycle with his controversial comments about, well, pretty much
everything.
For
example, Trump appeared on Fox News for a total of 22 hours and 46
minutes from May 1 to Dec. 15 — more than twice the air time of any
other candidate, according to Media Matters.
From Jan. 1 through Nov. 30, ABC, CBS and NBC’s nightly network newscasts devoted 234 minutes to Trump, according to the Tyndall Report
— far more than any other presidential candidate. Democratic
frontrunner Hillary Clinton received 113 minutes of coverage, while
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders received 10 minutes.
Texas
Sen. Ted Cruz, who is currently Trump’s closest GOP challenger, got
even less coverage, garnering just 7 minutes of nightly news coverage.
No comments:
Post a Comment