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Tampa Bay is ground zero as governor's race ad war hits $40 million

 
Like Gov. Rick Scott, left, most of Charlie Crist's TV ads are negative. [AP photos]
Like Gov. Rick Scott, left, most of Charlie Crist's TV ads are negative. [AP photos]
Published Sept. 16, 2014

The race for Florida governor is about to be a $40 million affair. And, with about eight weeks to go, expect that amount to double — or perhaps triple.

More than 72 percent of the TV ad spending is from Gov. Rick Scott, not surprising because he's an incumbent and he's independently wealthy. Scott greeted Democrat Charlie Crist's entrance in the race with a $1 million-plus ad buy in November 2013, went dark, and then began blasting away in early March, since which time the governor and his allies have dropped at least $27 million.

Crist's home base of Tampa Bay is ground zero with 30 percent of all ad-race spending since March. Orlando is second, with 22 percent of all dollars burned on TV.

The overwhelming number of ads Scott has run are negative. And it has paid off, dragging Crist down in the polls and making the race a near tie, with Scott ahead by an inside-the-error margin lead.

Pro-Crist forces have dropped about $10 million, with billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer chipping in at least $1.8 million of that through his NextGen Climate group.

Like Scott, most of Crist's ads are negative.

West Palm Beach, a large media market that's far cheaper than Miami's, is third with 15.4 percent of total ad spending in the race.

Crist hasn't spent much ad money yet in the Miami media market because it's the most-expensive in the state, and the Democrat badly trails Scott in fundraising.

In each market, especially in North Florida, Scott is dominating in ad buys. Crist's strategy is to spend about half of what Scott burns from this point out.