Who Runs Gov

Yesterday the U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced to great fanfare a major $1 million ad blitz targeting the Employee Free Choice Act in numerous states that are home to Democratic Senators who are wavering on whether to support the measure.

But the business group, one of EFCA’s leading foes, has placed ad buys totaling less than one-forth that formidable-sounding sum, according to a Democrat who got the info from a media ad buyer.

The source tells me that the ad time booked by the Chamber only totals $220,416. It’s possible that the Chamber will plunk down more, but that’s what they’ve locked up in ad time right now.

The AFL-CIO wasted no time jumping on the revelation. “It’s no surprise that a big business that puts forward Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder as `workers’ would try and pull something like this,” emailed AFL-CIO spokesperson Eddie Vale.

The ad buy info, which details where the cash is going, also provides a glimpse into the state-by-state strategy being employed under the Chamber’s chief, Tom Donohue.

The states where the most cash is being spent are Louisiana ($68,318), Virginia ($66,794), and
Colorado ($46,176). That means the Dem Senators being targeted most aggressively are Mary Landrieu, Mark Warner, Mark Udall, and Michael Bennet, all of whom have sent mixed signals on EFCA.

Though the spending is well-short of what was advertised, it’s yet another reminder that despite all the reports about how this fight is supposedly over this year, EFCA opponents aren’t really acting like they believe this to be the case.

Update: Tita Freeman, the Chamber’s vice president of communications, responds that there’s much more advertising to come: “This week’s ad buy is only the beginning of a series of waves in our advertising campaign.”

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