Monday, October 11, 2004
Electoral College Makes Toledo Ground Zero for TV ads
Paul Farhi of the Washington Post reports in this story that Toledo voters so far have been shown 14, 273 TV ads about the presidential race -- more than anybody else. Toledo stations air in both Michigan and Ohio, two swing states in the race for electoral college votes. Of course, if candidates cared about winning the popular vote, they'd be running ads in LA, New York, and Dallas.
I'm not sure who is better off, folks in Toledo, or folks in non-"battleground" states who may not see a single ad. Nobody likes to be ignored, but its not clear that the ads help much either. While I respect the undecided voters who are taking it all in before committing to any candidate, I don't know too many of them who feel like they could make up their minds if only they could see a few more ads.
But it does seem odd that the undecideds in a few swing states matter a lot more than the rest of us in determining the outcome of this election.
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Paul Farhi of the Washington Post reports in this story that Toledo voters so far have been shown 14, 273 TV ads about the presidential race -- more than anybody else. Toledo stations air in both Michigan and Ohio, two swing states in the race for electoral college votes. Of course, if candidates cared about winning the popular vote, they'd be running ads in LA, New York, and Dallas.
I'm not sure who is better off, folks in Toledo, or folks in non-"battleground" states who may not see a single ad. Nobody likes to be ignored, but its not clear that the ads help much either. While I respect the undecided voters who are taking it all in before committing to any candidate, I don't know too many of them who feel like they could make up their minds if only they could see a few more ads.
But it does seem odd that the undecideds in a few swing states matter a lot more than the rest of us in determining the outcome of this election.
