Jul 2, 2008 1:30 pm US/Eastern
RNC Launches First Ad Of Presidential Campaign
An independent arm of the Republican National Committee plans to spend $3 million on an ad campaign contrasting GOP presidential candidate John McCain to Democrat Barack Obama on energy security.
The ad will run in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin beginning Sunday. The ad represents the first of the RNC's independent expenditure operation.
The effort will be run by Republican media consultant Brad Todd of On Message Inc., a media and polling firm that worked on Mitt Romney's presidential campaign.
Todd said the ad will focus on energy, "which is emerging as a defining difference in the race for president."
By setting up a separate organization within the RNC, the national party can spend unlimited resources on behalf of McCain as long as it does not coordinate with the candidate's campaign.
"Following Barack Obama's decision to become the only major party presidential candidate in history to not adhere to campaign spending caps, the Republican National Committee has begun an independent expenditure campaign in accordance with FEC regulations," Todd said in a statement Wednesday.
McCain and Obama have been running their own general election ads. Obama has focused on reintroducing himself to voters through biographical ads that are running in 18 states. McCain ran one ad that featured his family's military service and his five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam and is now on the air in 11 states with an ad promoting his stance to control global warming.
McCain and the RNC have been raising money together for a joint victory fund that can that can be used to coordinate efforts between the national party and the McCain campaign. But the RNC is limited to spending no more than $19.1 million on coordinated activities.
The independent operation faces no such restriction, but can have no connection to the rest of the RNC or the McCain campaign.
