Kerry About To Begin To Fight

John Kerry will be buying $50 million in advertising starting tomorrow and continuing until November 2 (he's limited to $90 million in all). He intends to target a total of 20 swing states as follows:

The Democrat's commercials begin airing Friday in Ohio, then next week in Florida, Iowa, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Wisconsin, according to Democratic officials familiar with the buy.

The rest of the states -- Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Maine, Michigan, Arizona, Louisiana, Colorado, Arkansas and North Carolina and West Virginia -- won't see the spots until later this fall.

According to CNN, this is a risky and unusual strategy because:

Bush's campaign now knows Kerry's Electoral College strategy. But buying airtime now means that Kerry can lock in current advertising rates, which rise sharply in the fall as demand for airtime soars.

He can always cancel ads later in states he feels he cannot win and redeploy those dollars to others he believes he can.

Kerry's fight begins officially tonight in a response to the RNC at a midnight rally in Ohio. ABC reports excerpts of what he is expected to say:

The Vice President even called me unfit for office last night. I guess I'll leave it up to the voters whether five deferments makes someone more qualified to defend this nation than two tours of duty.

Let me tell you what I think makes someone unfit for duty. Misleading our nation into war in Iraq makes you unfit to lead this nation. Doing nothing while this nation loses millions of jobs makes you unfit to lead this nation. Letting 45 million Americans go without healthcare makes you unfit to lead this nation....

Well, George, consider it brought'en!