2012 Presidential Election, Political Ads | featured news

A political group supporting Mitt Romney’s Republican presidential bid began airing television advertisements in Michigan today, charging that rival Rick Santorum is a “big spender” and “Washington insider” who backed letting convicted felons vote.

Rick Santorum is on the air in Michigan with positive campaign ads, including one saying he has the "best chance" against President Obama.

A harsh new ad from former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney uses news footage from 1997 to remind voters of then-House speaker Newt Gingrich’s ethics violations. “History Lesson” is unusual in that neither Romney nor Gingrich appears. The entire 30-second spot consists of an NBC News report from Jan. 21, 1997, the day Gingrich was reprimanded by Congress for using tax-exempt money for political purposes and giving the House Ethics Committee false information.

Mitt Romney's campaign is running an ad that tries to link Newt Gingrich to the housing foreclosure crisis through his work for Freddie Mac ...

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on Friday called on a well-heeled outside group supporting his candidacy to correct the inaccuracies in a half-hour film highly critical of GOP front-runner Mitt Romney's career as a venture capitalist or "pull it off the air and off the internet entirely."

President Obama's re-election campaign has taken out big ads on the website of the Des Moines Register that dig at Republicans on caucus day... "The Republican candidates are leaving Iowa. But their terrible plans are here to stay," proclaims the ad, which takes you to a page to sign up with the Obama-Biden re-election campaign.

As Iowa Republicans take in the final appeals before tonight’s caucus voting, one major lesson the candidates will take away: Going negative works. An estimated $5.8 million was spent on television advertising in Iowa through Dec. 30, with $3.7 million financing negative ads, according to most recent data available from New York-based Kantar Media’s CMAG, a company that tracks advertising.

Alarmed by Newt Gingrich’s decline in the polls in the face of a fusillade of negative advertisements, some senior aides and grass-roots supporters have suggested that he reverse course and fight fire with fire, fearing for the future of his candidacy if he does not.

Newt Gingrich was hammered by TV ads, in interviews and on the debate stage Thursday as his GOP rivals sought to slow his momentum.

A "super PAC" associated with Republican Mitt Romney's presidential campaign launched a $3.1 million ad buy in Iowa on Thursday, starting with an ad attacking President Obama's job-creation record and touting Romney's.