Presidential candidates are advertising early and often

DES MOINES, Iowa - One day last week, there was a cartoon in the newspaper here about reports that Mitt Romney's political commercials had run 10,000 times already this year.

The drawing showed Romney greeting fellow Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson, who starred on NBC's Law and Order for five years.

Romney tells him: "I bet I've been on TV more than you have."

For years, the rationale for starting the presidential selection process in Iowa and New Hampshire has been that their small populations encourage "retail politics," allowing personal contact between voter and candidate.

And retail politics is alive and well in both places, with the candidates investing remarkable amounts of time on the ground.

But one of the other prime attractions of Iowa and New Hampshire - one that politicians rarely discuss - is the relatively low cost of airing television commercials.

This year, more than ever, several candidates in both parties have been advertising early and often, starting with Romney. He went on the air here in February and has never gone off.

The Democrats have done their part, as well.

"Barack Obama and Bill Richardson have spent more on TV in Iowa at this point than John Kerry did in all of 2003 and 2004," said Evan Tracey of the Virginia-based Campaign Media Analysis Group. "Hillary Clinton will pass Kerry shortly. Politics is about rerunning the last campaign, adjusted for inflation."

Voters have noticed, and some are not pleased.

"We've been bombarded to the point that people are tuning it out already, which isn't helpful to the cause of democracy," said Joel Dinger, a high school teacher in Independence, Iowa.

This week, nearly three months before the first-in-the-nation caucuses here, television viewers were seeing one ad showing Romney talking about the need for Republicans to change their party, another promoting Clinton's commitment to fight for health care, a third portraying Obama as a new leader of sound judgment.

Thus far, Romney has spent nearly $8 million nationwide, most of it in Iowa and New Hampshire, according to Tracey's group.

"Television put Romney on the map out here," said Dennis Goldford, a political scientist at Drake University. "Nobody in Iowa knew from Romney at all."

For the most part, the other Republicans have let the former Massachusetts governor have TV in Iowa and New Hampshire to himself - one possible reason he is ahead in both places.

John McCain recently started running ads in New Hampshire. Rudy Giuliani has done some radio; Fred Thompson and Mike Huckabee have done no TV or radio.

Among the Democrats, Richardson started in April. He has spent about $2 million on Iowa and New Hampshire commercials, highlighted by a tongue-in-cheek sequence of ads in which he interviews for the job of president with a clueless employment agent.

"I know you can't buy Iowa," Richardson told Democrats who turned out in Marengo last weekend for an in-person session billed as a "job interview" with the candidate. Then he added: "You like my ads, don't you?"

Obama has spent a similar amount, Clinton less. Joe Biden and Chris Dodd also have been on the air, as have several advocacy groups.

John Edwards has yet to spend much on ads, a factor his strategists cite in saying he has room for growth.

In Iowa and New Hampshire, it does not cost all that much to have an impact.

Des Moines is the nation's 71st-largest market, Cedar Rapids-Waterloo, Iowa, the 87th. Manchester, N.H., is of similar size.

On KCCI-TV8, the most-watched station in Iowa, 30 seconds on The Price Is Right in Des Moines goes for $75, Late Night With David Letterman $250, Oprah $400, the 10 p.m. news $1,100. In Philadelphia, prices are six to eight times higher.

Are TV commercials effective in a state where it's easy to see the candidates in person? Some political analysts are skeptical.

Consider, though, that Clinton was third in Iowa behind Edwards and Obama in mid-August. Then her campaign started airing commercials. Now she is first in some surveys, second in others.

Richardson was attracting little support here until he went on the air in the spring. He quickly moved into double digits. In recent weeks, he has reduced his media presence, and his rise in the polls has stalled.

Building a strong political organization remains essential in Iowa. Getting individuals to attend a caucus on a cold winter night takes work.

But a television presence helps, too.

"You need a ground game, and you need to be on the air," said Peverill Squire, a political scientist at the University of Iowa.

If that's not true, a bunch of politicians have been wasting millions.