Biden super PAC makes first TV buy
December 6, 2019
The super PAC backing Joe Biden’s presidential bid made its first television ad buy today to run in Iowa markets next week.
The television spot is part of a joint TV and digital ad buy worth $650,000 — almost $20,000 more than what the Biden campaign has spent in Iowa over the past month, according to Advertising Analytics. The 30-second ad will run in four Iowa media markets next week, with the most time purchased in the Des Moines and Cedar Rapids markets.
Unite the Country, the PAC responsible for the advertisement, has amassed significant financial contributions from Biden supporters since its late October formation. Steve Schale, Florida director for former President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, founded the PAC after a grassroots effort in 2016 to encourage Biden to run for president. Representatives from the PAC said that more large ad buys like this one are planned for December.
The ad, entitled “Courage,” will highlight Biden’s support of same-sex marriage and his role in the passage of the Violence Against Women Act. It borrows audio from a previous Biden speech in which he speaks of “The right to be educated. The right to marry who you choose. The right to live free from the threat of violence and fear,” referring to them as “basic, fundamental, universal human rights.”
“Imagine. Imagine what we can build,” Biden’s voice continues, as his name and the words “Unite the Country” appear on screen.
According to Advertising Analytics, the Biden campaign and its PAC have already begun to purchase TV and digital spots worth over $2 million into the early months of 2020. Other Biden spots, which have aired mostly in Iowa and upstate New York markets, focus on his political experience, foreign policy knowledge and positioning as a moral leader capable of defeating President Donald Trump.
Biden originally pledged not to accept PAC money to support his campaign but changed his stance in late October in response to escalating attacks from Trump and low fundraising numbers.
Unite the Country’s Iowa ad buy coincides with Biden’s eight-day “No Malarkey” bus tour across the state.
Source: https://www.politico.com/
