.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} For just $1,000, you can make sure local viewers of ABC’s “America’s Funniest Home Videos” hear your message.

Throw another $1,200 into the mix and Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance” can be your own personal soapbox, for 30 seconds at least.

But if you really want to get your name out to the majority of this football-crazed state, you could have spent $8,000 on a 60-second advertisement during the recent Iowa-Wisconsin game.

As the Iowa caucuses quickly approach, presidential candidates and groups hoping to influence them are spending record amounts on television advertising, hoping to sway voters sitting on the fence, get their name out to those just tuning in and invigorate those already on their bandwagon.

“There is certainly more money being spent this year, because there are more candidates,” said Ross Reardon, general sales manager at WHO-TV. “And it’s only going to increase the closer we get to the caucuses.”

So far this year, more than $3.8 million has been spent on political advertising at the area’s four major network affiliates. The area’s rating leader, KCCI, has garnered a vast majority of that money, pulling in more than $2.1 million. WHO, KCCI’s closest competitor, pulled in nearly $1.4 million.

The other two stations, ABC affiliate WOI-TV and Fox affiliate KDSM, lagged far behind, totaling $207,330 and $143,840 respectively.

Though the amount of time the stations have to sell to advertisers doesn’t change during an election year, the demand for that time skyrockets. Because of this increased demand, the price of time also increases.

In February, advertisers could expect to pay $1,200 for a 30-second spot during KCCI’s 10 p.m. newscast. Fast-forward to September, when many more candidates began advertising on Iowa’s airwaves, and that price jumped to $1,600 for 30 seconds. At WHO, the price jumped from $1,100 in February to $1,300 last month. So far the prices have remained fairly steady, but a bigger increase is on the way.

“As demand goes up on the limited time we have, prices have to go up,” Reardon said.

Federal guidelines dictate that stations can’t refuse qualified candidates, which Reardon said puts the stations in a unique predicament.

“We want to protect the advertisers that are here 52 weeks a year every year,” he said. “But we only have so much time, so somebody has to come out.”

When candidates and issue groups start demanding more time, local advertisers end up paying more for their time as well, and in some cases, get shut out altogether.

“Every candidate wants to buy time during a newscast,” Reardon said. “When we get closer to the election, local advertisers are going to find it hard to get a spot during those times.”

Many candidates have only just begun to put their message out on television. Democratic frontrunner Sen. Hillary Clinton didn’t purchase her first Iowa advertisement until Aug. 14. Since then, however, she has spent $251,965 on 504 commercials.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson leads the Democratic field in Iowa ad spending, with $755,365 in advertising, beginning in April. Illinois Sen. Barack Obama is close behind with $713,695 spent so far. However, according to each of the four stations’ public political files, Obama has purchased thousands of dollars worth of advertising all the way into January, an indicator of things to come for local TV viewers.

Money spent doesn’t necessarily translate to the polls, however, as Sen. John Edwards, a top-tier candidate and leading contender in the Iowa caucuses, has spent only $5,815 on advertising.

On the Republican side, only two candidates, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Rep. Ron Paul, have purchased advertising in Central Iowa, with Romney far outpacing his Texas colleague by spending $747,285 to Paul’s $23,360. All of Paul’s commercials were in the week prior to the Ames Straw Poll.

Romney also got onto the airwaves first, purchasing his first advertisement Feb. 21. Since then he has purchased more than 1,500 ads.

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