Last week the Cedar Rapids Gazette noted that Republican gubernatorial Ron Corbett was about to go up on the air with a TV ad, making him the first Republican to do so.
Here is what the Gazette reported:
CEDAR RAPIDS — Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron Corbett was in Cedar Rapids on Wednesday, filming a new television ad to be aired statewide beginning early next month.
What is expected to be a six-figure ad buy would be the first television ad on the Republican side during this gubernatorial election cycle.
Well, the ads have been placed, and just like how Corbett over sold his early fundraising haul, his initial buy isn’t anywhere near six figures.
The Corbett campaign is spending just $40,000 from February 2nd through February 18th on ads that will only appear on the Fox News Network. To put Corbett’s TV buy into some perspective, when Nate Boulton went up on TV earlier this month from January 18th to February 5th, the ad buy was for $97,160, which was entirely on broadcast TV. The big spender on ads thus far is Democrat gubernatorial candidate Fred Hubble who has spent more than $660,000 thru January.
The dilemma Corbett is facing is that his limited budget isn’t going to do much to change the minds of thus Republican primary voters who are watching Fox News. In fact, the real opponent Corbett is squaring off with is Republican activists’ who just don’t have an appetite for a contested primary against Governor Reynolds. He’s a candidate stuck in no-mans land. He’s to the left of Reynolds politically, so it difficult to mount a conservative challenge to Reynolds. Plus he miscalculated the fact that Republican activist are more than willing to give Reynolds a chance at being governor before signing on with a primary challenger.
Bottom line: Corbett’s $40,000 isn’t going to move the needle. It wouldn’t even make a dent if Corbett were running in the Democrat primary. In fact, he would be down there doing hand-to-hand battle with the likes of John Norris on the undercard.
