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As he was opening up a lead over his rival in the polls, Barack Obama was outspending John McCain on television advertising three-to-one, according to the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza.

"From Sept. 30 to Oct. 6, Obama spent more than $20 million on television ads in 17 states including more than $3 million in Pennsylvania and more than $2 million each in Florida, Michigan and Ohio," he writes. "McCain in that same time frame spent just $7.2 million in 15 states. Even when the Republican National Committee's independent expenditure spending in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin is factored in (a total of $5.3 million), Obama still outspent the combined GOP forces by roughly $8 million in the last week alone."

Obama chose to forgo public financing in the general election, opting instead to rely on his unprecedented fundraising machine, which in August brought in more than $67 million. His rival opted for public financing, which meant that he received $84 million to spend from his official nomination at the beginning of September to Election Day. McCain cannot raise additional funds, though the RNC can raise money and advertise on McCain's behalf.

As Cillizza notes, in some of the states where Obama has seen a recent surge in the polls – most notably, Florida and North Carolina – he has massively outspent his Republican rival. In Florida alone, Obama recently outspent McCain on television ads by $2.2 million.

The Obama campaign has released a new ad, "Original," responding to the McCain campaign's spot labeling the presumptive GOP nominee "the original maverick."

It opens with an excerpt from McCain's commercial asserting McCain's "original maverick" status. The word "Really?" then appears onscreen, followed by video of McCain saying in 2003, "The president and I agree on most issues. There was a recent study that showed that I voted with the president over ninety percent of the time…"

Then an announcer chimes in: "John McCain supports Bush’s tax cuts for millionaires, but nothing for a hundred million households. He’s for billions in new oil company giveaways, while gas prices soar. And for tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. The original maverick? Or just more of the same?"



In keeping with its recent behavior, the Obama campaign did not announce the ad to the media, and there is no word on where or how often it is running.

Obama's team did announce, however, that it will be running its ad "National Priority" on "a network of gas-pump top televisions throughout Florida, called Gas Station TV." In addition, Obama volunteers will go to gas stations in 24 states this week to talk to voters, distribute Obama's energy plan, and "highlight Senator John McCain’s failure to do anything to address the energy crisis during his 26 years in Washington."

UPDATE: It appears that the Obama campaign's release on Gas Station TV was inaccurate – at least according to an email from Gas Station TV CEO David Leider. In an email, he says, "Gas Station TV does not have any orders placed for political advertising on its network...Reports that any Gas Station TV gas station partners are currently running political ads are inaccurate... Gas Station TV will not be running political advertising at any of its stations."

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AFL-CIO's Union Veterans Council released its first ad today, "Not Now," which will begin running tomorrow in Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.

"Every vet respects John McCain's war record. It's his record in the Senate that I have a problem with," Vietnam Veteran Jim Wasser says in the spot. "He wants us to keep spending $10 billion dollars a month in Iraq, just like Bush. That's money we could use to build schools and roads and create needed jobs here at home."

Adds Wasser: "He even took sides with Bush against increasing healthcare benefits for veterans. People should let John McCain know his agenda is not what we need, not now."

As CBS News Chief Political Consultant Marc Ambinder points out, the strategy of the AFL-CIO, which has endorsed Barack Obama, appears to be to link veterans' issues with economic anxieties. "We’re running the ad in towns where good jobs have disappeared because of flawed economic policies and failure to invest in jobs – places where the current economic slowdown is particularly acute," a spokesman said.

Watch it:

John McCain's campaign has released a new 30-second television ad, "Safe," in which the presumptive GOP presidential nominee discusses his and his family's experiences in war.

According to the New York Times, Democrats believe McCain is spending $3 million or more on ads expected to begin running today. McCain is focusing on battleground states: "Democrats monitoring his spending said the commercials would run in Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada and New Mexico; beginning on Saturday, he bought time in Iowa, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania."

"Only a fool or a fraud talks tough or romantically about war," McCain, looking directly at the camera from in front of a stark black background, says in the spot.

"When I was five years old, my father left for war," he continues. Black-and-white photographs appear onscreen and music swells in the background. "My grandfather came home from war and died the next day. I was shot down over Vietnam and spent five years as a POW. Some of the friends I served with never came home. I hate war. And I know how terrible its costs are. I'm running for President to keep the country I love safe."

Watch it:

If last year's Radio and Television Correspondents' Association Dinner went down in history as the night when old-school hip-hop artist "MC Rove" gave his first and only cringe-worthy performance, this year's event will be remembered for solid routines from a couple of unlikely comedians.

CBS News Director of Political Coverage Steve Chaggaris hosted the annual event in Washington last night, which featured guest appearances from "Sunday Morning" contributor Mo Rocca and Vice President Cheney.

Cheney got off one of the better lines of the night when he said, “Of course there are two Democrats running and they’re still hopelessly divided over who’s the real uniter, and you in the press need to go easy on Senator Clinton on the whole business about running and ducking from gunfire in Bosnia. She made an honest mistake. She confused the Bosnia trip with the time I took her hunting.”

But it was another politician with a reputation for rigidity who stole the show.

Chaggaris was in the middle of sharing his reflections on the presidential campaign when a tall figure crept up from behind him.

"That's odd," Chaggaris deadpanned. "I mean, I'm wondering why there's a cardboard cutout of Mitt Romney behind me."

It actually was the former Massachusetts governor, who then stepped up to the podium.

“I see I’m getting the same kind of coverage on CBS I used to get,” Romney shot back.

The former GOP presidential candidate then went into a top ten list of why he decided to get out of the race. Romney is known for many things, but standup comedy is not among them, so it was a surprise to many in the audience when his list turned out to be very funny indeed. Watch the video below.

The legend of the "3 a.m. phone call" lived on over the weekend, as "Saturday Night Live" began its newest episode with a parody featuring an in-over-his-head President Obama soliciting late-night advice from Hillary Clinton on how to handle a simmering international crisis.



The skit is raising questions about whether the venerable institution that has produced decades of sharp political parody has become a cheerleader for the Clinton campaign. In the three episodes that have aired since the end of the television writers' strike, "SNL" has run a string of apparently pro-Clinton segments, including an endorsement from Tina Fey, a parody on perceived pro-Obama media bias and a self-deprecating appearance by Clinton herself, which may have given her a bump going into Ohio and Texas.

Political reporters were among those who most lamented the writers' strike, which continued through the early stages of the campaign. Without the poignant jabs of late-night comedians, the daily political discourse seemed to be lacking an important element.

How would Letterman have reacted to the now famous tears Hillary Clinton shed while opening up about the pressures of the campaign. What would Jon Stewart have said about Mike Huckabee's bizarre pre-Iowa caucus press conference, in which he announced with great fanfare that he would backtrack on his decision to air a negative advertisement against Mitt Romney before proceeding to show it to the assembled press anyway?

Time and again, parody has inspired what becomes conventional wisdom, and what happens on "Saturday Night" can help set the tone for the week ahead.

Mitt Romney's campaign will launch a new ad in Iowa tomorrow contrasting his record against Mike Huckabee's on crime. You can see the ad here. Text:

"Two pro-life Governors. Both support a constitutional amendment to protect traditional marriage. The difference? Romney got tough on drugs like meth. He never pardoned a single criminal. And Mike Huckabee? He granted 1,033 pardons and commutations, including 12 convicted murderers. Huckabee granted more clemencies than the previous three governors combined. Even reduced penalties for manufacturing methamphetamine. On crime. The difference is judgment."

For his part, Huckabee will reportedly begin running a new ad in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina that is more a televised Christmas card than contrast ad – or is it? In the ad, Huckabee bemoans the rash of political ads at the holiday season when what people really want to think about is "the birth of Christ." Here's the not-so-subtle text, you can see the ad here:

"Are you about worn out of all the television commercials you've been seeing, mostly about politics? I don't blame you. At this time of year, sometimes it's nice to pull aside from all of that and just remember that what really matters is the celebration of the birth of Christ and being with our family and our friends. I hope that you and your family will have a magnificent Christmas season. And on behalf of all of us, God bless and merry Christmas."