Barack Obama blows $3m on TV ad as McCain gains in polls

Barack Obama spent a record-breaking $3m on a single 30-minute television ad which was broadcast last night on CBS, NBC and Fox in prime time, bringing accusations from his Republican rival John McCain about the Democrat's funding methods.

At the same time, new daily polls from Gallup and Rasmussen released yesterday showed Obama's lead over McCain falling to only three points, the first time McCain has been so close in more than a month.

The Obama advert featured the candidate introducing Americans families with stories of economic hardship. He explained his tax 'rescue plan' for the middle classes, his policy on health care and where he stood on Iraq. The ad closed with a live broadcast from a campaign rally in Sunrise, Florida, where Obama and his running mate Joe Biden fired up a 20,000 crowd. "America, the time for change has come," declared Obama.

The ad, which was also aired on several cable channels, was a devastating demonstration of Obama's spending power after he decided to opt out of the public funding system, and the limits that go with it, and raise his campaign funds independently.

As a result, while McCain's campaign received $84m in public money to spend in the two months between his party convention in early September and next week's election, Obama raised $150m in September alone. Obama's total advertising spend has been more than double McCain's.

McCain picked up on this in TV interviews yesterday, claiming Obama had reneged on a promise to stay within the public funding system and that he had taken in millions in "undocumented" campaign contributions. "When you're watching this gauzy, feel-good commercial, just remember that it was paid for with broken promises," he said. "Senator Obama's word doesn't appear to mean that much."

Obama also wheeled out Bill Clinton yesterday, the two men burying the hatchet after the former president called Obama's candidacy a "fairy tale" earlier this year when his wife Hillary was still competing for the Democratic nomination. "In case all of you forgot, this is what it's like to have a great president," Obama told a 35,000 crowd in Kissimmee, Florida.

Florida is one of five states where both candidates are concentrating their efforts in the final days of campaigning. The others are Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Virginia. Together, the five combined have 96 of the 270 Electoral College votes needed to claim the White House. All except Pennsylvania went to Bush in the 2004 election.

Latest AP polls show Obama leading in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia and tying with McCain in Florida and North Carolina. But a Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll of likely voters taken over the weekend found Obama leading McCain 50 per cent to 43 per cent in Florida.

FIRST POSTED OCTOBER 30, 2008