Cincinnati (US): Barack Obama's front-running White House campaign is buying up half hour chunks of prime-time television time on top US networks for a pre-election broadcast, an aide has said.
The campaign confirmed an exclusive story in the Hollywood Reporter that said the Democratic nominee was snapping up network air time for a pre-election special.
The Reporter said in the report yesterday that the campaign had bought a half hour of air time on CBS on October 29 at 8:00 pm and was in talks with NBC and Fox on securing prime-time spots ahead of the November 4 election.
A campaign source said late yesterday that the Obama campaign had secured time on the NBC network and would also buy time on Fox.
The Hollywood trade paper said Obama's move was not unprecedented, as third-party independent candidate Ross Perot adopted a similar tactic before the 1992 election.
Both Obama and McCain spent a combined 11 million dollars to buy prime-time television advertisements during NBC s broadcasts of the Beijing Olympics this summer.
The move, will underline Obama's emerging financial advantage over his rival as the campaign enters its financial stretch, as reports and academic studies show him swamping McCain's advertising buys in key battleground states.
