US President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign has spent nearly USD 100 million on television commercials in key battleground states so far, unleashing a sustained early barrage designed to create lasting, negative impressions of Republican Mitt Romney before he and his allies ramp up for the November election.
The US President is chosen from state-by-state contests, rather than a nationwide popular vote. So battleground states which are neither reliably Republican nor Democratic are very important in tight elections, as this year’s presidential vote is expected to be.
Reflecting campaign strategy, more than one-fifth of the President’s ad spending has been in Ohio, a state that looms as a must-win for Romney more so than for Obama. Florida ranks second and Virginia third, according to organisations that track media spending and other sources.
About three-quarters of the President’s advertising has been critical of Romney as Obama struggles to turn the election into a choice between himself and his rival, rather than a referendum on his own handling of the weak economy.
PTI