Talk Elections

The Kerry ads in Florida are not very descriptive as we all know already. But I have noticed that his ads are being bumped to a 1-3 am timeslot and I hardly seeing any ran during mid-day/evening. The ads being run in that timeslot are Bush/Cheney. Is this broadcast station bias? Or is their a strategy here that I'm not seeing.

I would be ASTONISHED if this was "bias" -

When you buy a media contract you have choices -

1) - You can specify the actual show/time where an add runs, and pay the price according to the show (You pay more for an ad during the SuperBowl than for one during the 3.00 am re-run of Gilligan's Island)

2) - You can Buy "GRPs" (Gross Rating Points) where you do not get to specify the exact show, but they guarantee that your ads will be seen by a specified number of people in totality. (Depending on the contract, they may also guarantee a specified exposure to a specific demographic)

Buying media time is a very "let's make a deal" environment where the terms and condidtions are very flexible.(Think used car salesmen, except less reputable)

My "guess" is that when Kerry bought his flight of ads down in Florida one of the "freebies" the station tossed was likely some "off peak" time for free.

This is very, very typical in the TV business.  

TV programs are produced on the assumption of a full slate of ads (ie a half hour show is only about 23 minutes long to accomadate 7 minutes of ads) - To make sure that the "half hour" show running from 2.30 am to 3.00 am actually stays in it's time slot, stations fill the 7 minutes of airtime with "whatever" -

They usually let the advertising sales force throw this time into other deals as a way to close the deal.

I must admit his ads are very poor. He tells you what he believes but not much else. One ad he said "I promise to fight terror" and that's all he mentioned about it. In the same ad he said "I want to restore America". Like it fell apart?

I think you will see that Kerry's ads will have to shift.

Lee Atwater said that "if it doesn't fit on a T-shirt, the message is too long" and Kerry is running into this.

When Kerry say's "No Jobs" Bush can reply "947,000 jobs in 3 months"

When Kerry say's "I promise 10 million jobs in 4 years" Bush can say "Why would you want to slow down Job creation?"

There are many legitimate arguments that Kerry can make on the economy, but they are all substantially more complex arguments to make.

And if they don't fit on a T-shirt, usually you are in trouble.

I wonder sometimes if it's Kerry himself or his staff that seem to be lost. Clinton is really overshadowing him in this critical time.

If Kerry wins, Hillary can't run in 2008 .

Also, if kerry wins a 2nd Term, Kerry's VP clearly has a leg up for the Dem nonination in 2012.

This could mean Hillary can run for President till at earliest, 2016.  

I have no idea if this is the actual reason Clinton seems to keep getting in the way, maybe he just loves the limelight, but it's a theorry anyway..

I preached the same thing on this forum but was shot down being just some conspiracy theory. Won't Hillary be to old by 2016?

Part of Kerry's problem is the same problem that Bush Sr. had, i.e. no "vision" clearly enunciated as to what he wants to accomplish if her were elected President