Pennsylvania poised to reap campaign dollars

They will feast on hoagies and cheesesteaks by the thousands. They will catnap on hotel linens. Spend lavishly on TV ads. Shell out for police overtime and storm local copy centers.

For the next seven weeks in Pennsylvania, and especially in delegate-rich Philadelphia, the campaigners and journalists chronicling the race for the Democratic presidential nomination will spend millions of dollars as Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton pursue victory in the state's now-coveted primary.

The single largest infusion of cash - estimated at nearly $10 million statewide and up to $7 million in Philadelphia - will go toward television ads as Clinton and Obama try to muscle ahead to victory on April 22.

But the caravan of supporters and journalists chasing the historic duo in campaign buses and satellite trucks could account for an additional $30 million in spending statewide before a winner is declared, veteran Democratic political consultant Neil Oxman said.

"There'll be thousands of people, non-Pennsylvanians, working on each side, who'll be here from one to seven weeks," he said. They'll be going "to buy grinders for lunch and pizza at night. I mean, there's a real spin-off."

"Economically, it's going to be a quick shot in the arm, and it's going to be felt statewide," said Nick J. Hadgis, dean of the School of Hospitality Management at Widener University. "The candidates will be spending a lot of money in communities that don't normally see that kind of spending. Their VFW and banquet halls will be booked."

Money will drop like confetti as the race picks up speed - in part because Pennsylvania is the only marquee primary between now and late April.

The outlays could rival the Iowa caucuses, where each campaign had "something like 35 or 40 headquarters," Oxman said.

"Iowa has 2.5 million people; Pennsylvania has 12 million people," he said. "We could have 1.2 million to 1.4-million-plus Pennsylvanians vote," compared with about 250,000 voters in Iowa, he said.

There is a lot of ground to cover in this commonwealth of 67 counties spread over 45,000 square miles that include Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and a massive rural belly.

"The amount of the involvement here is just much, much larger," Oxman said. "I think there will be thousands of people coming in."

Beneficiaries will include hotels, restaurants, print shops, office-supply stores and all the people needed to stage large rallies - everything from stage carpenters to sound engineers to runners being sent at the last minute to buy, say, 50 potted plants to decorate the stage, Philadelphia political consultant Ken Snyder said.

"Putting on a rally easily costs $20,000 to $30,000," he said.

The big winners, however, are Pennsylvania TV stations. Across the state's six TV markets, and especially in Philadelphia, the tight primary means loose checkbooks.

Both candidates are expected to spend heavily on campaign ads beginning as soon as Monday. Most of the bounty - an estimated $5 million to $7 million - will go to Philadelphia, the country's fourth-largest TV market.

The Clinton and Obama campaigns each reached out yesterday to CBS3, NBC10, 6ABC and Fox29 about ad buys, station officials confirmed. No airtime, however, was purchased.

"The activity has gone from zero to 60 overnight," said Joe Collins, vice president-sales for WCAU. "At this point, we have no idea of how much the campaigns will buy, or how soon."

Obama, who bought only one spot in Philadelphia last year, ran 276 between Jan. 1 and mid-February, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus. Clinton, with none in 2007, had 189 during the same period. Though Pennsylvania was not part of Super Tuesday on Feb. 5, New Jersey and Delaware were. Philadelphia stations reach parts of both states.

The sagging economy has depressed TV ad sales. Because of that, Collins and other area station executives were pulling hard for Clinton to win Tuesday's primaries and bring a tight race to Pennsylvania.

"We absolutely needed her to win Texas and Ohio for this to be meaningful and drive business into the marketplace," he said. "It will be a huge positive for us."

Over the next seven weeks, longtime ratings leader 6ABC will get the largest share of the pie, about $2.2 million, local experts said. NBC10 and CBS3 should pull in $1.5 million each and Fox29 about $1 million, they said.

For hotel operators in the Philadelphia area, the primary means unexpected business during what already is a busy convention season.

Center City hotels will be running at 70 percent capacity in March because of several large conventions, said Jack Ferguson, executive vice president of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"It might be tight," Ferguson said. "They might not be staying directly downtown. They might have to stay by the airport, on City Avenue or in South Jersey."