Joseph Kennedy III says he is focused exclusively on winning the Democratic primary for Congress from the Fourth District, but his campaign is busy planning for the general election.
Two of Boston’s major TV stations are reporting that Kennedy has put in an order for about $450,000 of television ads starting Oct. 1 and leading up to the general election. The order surfaced in the initial political advertising filings by Boston TV stations on the website of the Federal Communications Commission.
The four major Boston stations – WBZ (Channel 4), WFXT (Channel 25), WCVB (Channel 5), and WHDH (Channel 7) – reported overall political advertising purchases or requests of nearly $3.3 million since earlier this month. The YG Action Fund, a Republican political action committee, is a big spender, placing an order for $650,000 in ad time to attack US Rep. John Tierney, who is facing a challenge from Republican Richard Tisei. US Sen. Scott Brown and his Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren are also spending heavily.
Kennedy has kept a fairly low profile during the Democratic primary, but his order for TV ads indicates his campaign plans to rev into high gear during the general election. The station filings indicate he currently plans to run 329 30-second spots between Oct. 1 and Nov. 5 on Channels 5 and 4. He has placed no ad orders yet with Channels 7 and 25. The filings cover only the four Boston TV stations since Aug. 2 and provide no indication of what Kennedy plans to spend on cable TV, radio, and other forms of advertising.
No other candidate for the US House showed up in the political advertising filings of the Boston TV stations, although other candidates have indicated they will be buying air time.
“He bought a heavy schedule in a short period of time,” Andy Hoffmann, general sales manager at Channel 5, said of Kennedy’s $303,700 order with the station. Hoffmann said Kennedy hasn’t actually purchased the ad time yet, but merely placed the order.
Kennedy spokeswoman Emily Brown declined to comment on the campaign’s post-primary ad plans. Earlier, she had said Kennedy was not willing to commit to any post-primary debates because he is focused on the primary.
Republican Sean Bielat, one of a handful of Republicans who hope to take on Kennedy in the final election, scoffed at the Kennedy campaign’s assertion that the candidate is focusing on the primary. Bielat said Kennedy, a first-time candidate, is focusing on the final election and plans to rely primarily on advertising to reach voters.
“They’re trying to avoid debates and do more scripted stuff,” Bielat said. “That’s part of his strategy, to say as little as possible.”
The ad spending reports on the FCC website cover only affiliates of the four major networks in the top 50 US media markets. Other TV stations will be required to start doing online reporting of political ad spending in 2014.
According to the reports from the Boston stations, Channel 5 is the biggest recipient of political ad dollars so far, collecting $1.3 million in payments or orders since Aug. 2. The station typically remits 15 percent of an ad purchase to a candidate’s advertising buyer.
Brown, according to the reports, has spent $819,000 since the start of the month on political ads on the four stations. Warren has spent $799,084. President Obama has spent $346,120, while Mitt Romney has made no purchases or orders yet. Among noncandidates, the Republican National Committee has spent or ordered $181,900 in advertising time, the YG Action Fund $659,300, the Service Employees International Union $102,000, and a group pushing for a change in state law dealing with auto body shops $33,000.
Homepage photo courtesy the Cape Cod Times.
