Political reporting 101: How big is the buy?

This story has been in my pending file for a couple of weeks, but is still instructive.

Between the Internet and 24/7 cable news, we are approaching the point where it won't be necessary to actually run any television commercials to get media coverage about them.

The example I've used is the group that wanted to discredit AARP, the American Assn. of Retired Persons, at the beginning of the Social Security debate. They simple made a spot that linked AARP to support for gay marriage, put it up on the Internet (I think for a day or less) and let the media take it from there.

Bingo! National coverage about the spot, everyone heard the message about AARP and gay marriages, and no one had to spend any money actually advertising on TV.

This story from New Hampshire brought that to mind. The Associated Press ran a story about a guy who was coming to the Granite State to campaign for Hillary Clinton for President, running TV spots, holding news conferences, and stirring up some positive talk about Hillary.

It seems no one asked the basic question: How big is the buy? The answer, it turned out, was $264, to buy spots on one cable system.

Meanwhile, Hillary's opponents, who announced a campaign to Stop Her Now, aren't faring too well, either. This report says the group, which said it would raise $10-million to defeat Clinton in her Senate reelection bid and kill her White House chances, had raised $12,000 -- and spent $27,000.