I'm a Wheel Watcher

Over the course of the campaign, presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain together have spent over $2 million to air televised campaign ads on “Wheel of Fortune.”
This is more than the three have spent on any other individual television program.

Obama has spent the most on “Wheel,” with over $1 million spent so far, followed by Clinton with $815,000 and McCain with $168,000.

Running a close second to “Wheel” is “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” Obama, who received Winfrey’s endorsement last year, has bought an estimated $974,000 in ads, compared to $596,000 for Clinton and $185,000 for McCain.

The biggest recipients of presidential TV ad dollars are the hundreds of local news broadcasts in cities across the country. The three presidential candidates have spent a combined $36.7 million on the local news, with Clinton edging Obama in spending, $17 million to $16 million. McCain has spent almost $4 million on the local news since the start of the campaign.

In additional to “Wheel,” “Winfrey,” and the local news, the programs that Clinton spent the most of her TV advertising money on were morning network news programs: NBC’s “Today Show” and ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

Obama’s top five television programs in terms of ad spending are rounded out by “Today” and the CBS sitcom “Two and a Half Men.”

McCain’s top five progams, aside from “Winfrey” and the local news, were all game shows: “Wheel of Fortune,” “Jeopardy,” and NBC’s “Deal or No Deal.”