Presidential ads pass 1 million mark

There have now been, literally, a million presidential campaign ads.

The Wesleyan Media Project reports today that "the number of ads aired in the presidential general election passed the 1 million mark last week."

President Obama's campaign leads Republican Mitt Romney in the number of ads, though the gap narrows when you add Democratic and Republican outside groups.

From the Wesleyan report:

"As of October 29, the two candidates, their party committees, and supporting interest groups had sponsored 1,015,615 ads since June 1, a 39.1% increase over 2008 (730,041) and a 41% increase over 2004 (720,064).

"Since Mitt Romney effectively secured the Republican nomination in April, the campaigns, parties and outside interest groups have sponsored just over 1.1 million presidential ad airings on local broadcast and national cable.

"'This is, by far, the most advertising we've seen in a presidential election,' said Erika Franklin Fowler, co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project. 'Everyone expected ads to be more abundant this election than in 2008, especially with super PAC involvement and both candidates opting out of public funding, but passing the one million mark is a real milestone.'"

"Because these numbers include only ads aired through October 29, the total number of ads aired during the entire 2012 presidential campaign will still include 8 days of additional advertising (excluding Election Day). ...

"Throughout the general election, President Obama has led in the total number of ads aired. ... The Obama campaign has sponsored about 50 percent of all of the ads aired and has out-advertised the Romney campaign by a 2.6 to 1 margin in both ads aired and estimated money spent.

"However, in adding up all ads aired on behalf of either candidate, pro-Obama ads outnumber pro-Romney ads by just fewer than 50,000 (574,557 to 526,811). Governor Romney was aided by roughly 270,000 ads from outside groups (51 percent of all pro-Romney ads aired) in the general election, including 60,000 from Restore Our Future, the super PAC organized to support his election, and over 130,000 from the organizations Crossroads GPS and American Crossroads."

"'The level of support for Governor Romney from outside groups is simply incredible,' said Michael Franz, Project co-director. 'Groups supporting Romney out-advertised the candidate and party committees. That is unprecedented in a presidential election.'"