Obama first presidential candidate to buy media in Minnesota

Posted at 3:57 PM on January 23, 2008 by Tom Scheck (3 Comments)

Democratic Senator Barack Obama has bought advertising time for this week through the Minnesota Caucuses on February 5th. In all, Obama bought 200 spots on six Twin Cities TV stations at the cost of 93 thousand dollars. The ads will air on shows like American Idol, Late Night with David Letterman, Dance Wars and American Gladiator.

Here's the Obama buy by station:

KSTP - 4 spots at the cost of $5,600. The spots will air on Dance Wars, October Road, Lost Clip Show, Dance War Bruno v Carrie.

KSTC (Ch. 45) - 50 spots at a cost of $3635. The spots will air on King of Queens, Frasier, According to Jim, Friends, Scrubs and My Wife and Kids.

WCCO - 5 spots at a cost of $2000. The spots will air on Late Night with David Letterman.

KARE - 26 spots at a cost of $25,690. The spots will air on American Gladiator, Deal or No Deal, Biggest Loser, Office, Friday Night Lights, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Saturday Night Live, This Week and the Office.

FOX9 - 42 spots at a cost of $35,125. The spots will air on Seinfeld, Prison Break, American Idol, House, Cops, Americas Most Wanted, the Simpsons, Family Guy, the War at Home and TMZ.

WFTC (ch. 29) - 73 spots at a cost of $21,100. The spots will air on reruns of Everybody Love Raymond, The Simpsons, 2 and a half Men, Family Guy, King of the Hill, Still Standing, That 70s Show and The Academy.

Do you notice anything about these buys? No local news.

One other thing: A colleague pointed me to this Washington Post story that says Obama is focusing on Minnesota because it's a caucus state:

The Obama campaign's heavy emphasis on grass-roots organizing, which served it so well in Iowa, has led it to target the six states that will hold caucuses rather than primaries on Feb. 5. These are typically lightly attended affairs, but they could deliver big returns if Obama can follow his Iowa model of identifying a pool of supporters, including nontraditional participants such as college students and independents, and methodically turning them out.

The big three in that category are Colorado, Kansas and Minnesota. But the campaign also is active in North Dakota, where Obama has three offices; Alaska, where he has two; and Idaho, where he has one. To help balance out Clinton's edge with Democratic Party faithful, Obama is seeking endorsements in all six of the caucus states and may be close to securing the nod of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, sources close to the campaign said. (The Clinton team counters that the Feb. 5 caucus states are relatively unimportant, accounting for just 12 percent of the delegates who will be awarded that day.)

The campaigns for the other leading Democrats -- New York Senator Hillary Clinton and former North Carolina Senator John Edwards asked the stations about ad rates but have not bought time. Records show that no Republican candidate expressed interest in buying TV time.

Comments (3)

The ad buy shows Obama is targeting non-traditional DFL caucus attendees and young people. The KARE, KFTC and KMSP have a younger audience market in the Twin Cities. Obama has covered half of his base.

But how does he reach his upper income liberals? Watch the mailboxes in southwest Minneapolis and the western suburbs.

Posted by MNDem | January 23, 2008 5:02 PM

This totally supports my belief that Obama is the best president for America...at this present time. He is a unifier, he has great ideas that are out the box of D.C. politics, he understands that the democratic party needs to expand and be inclusive, he is exactly what this country needs!

We need a change of direction and Obama is the only one that could give it to the American people!

I support Obama for president 2008!

Posted by Robyn | January 23, 2008 6:47 PM

I'm wondering what the campaigns' plans are to get out the vote. We should be in their target market, but haven't heard boo from the candidates or the DFL about the caucuses. That seems odd to me. Perhaps they aren't interested in boosting attendance? Or could it be that they aren't interested in boosting attendance from anyone other than rabid DFLers?

Posted by bsimon | January 24, 2008 11:21 AM

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