McCain Gains But Obama Maintains Ad Edge, Nielsen Finds

In the final weekend before the election, Barack Obama ran 5,947 TV ads in the battleground states of Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Virginia, according to new numbers out by the Nielsen Company. That was 77 percent more that the 3,358 ads run by John McCain in those states over the weekend.

But the study found McCain's ads rose compared to the weekend before last as he increased his buys by 76 percent. Obama's ad rate rose just three percent in the last weekend compared to the weekend before. The study also finds that both campaigns have advertised most heavily in the state of Florida. Between October 6th and November 2nd, Obama ran 24,834 ads in the Sunshine state compared to 8,599 for Obama – a 189 percent edge for the Democrat. In that same time frame, Obama ran 80,504 ads in all seven states, compared to 34,179 for McCain. Check out Nielsen's blog for more.