Kerry, Sharpton begin advertising in S.C. market

If you don’t plan to vote in the Democratic primary Tuesday, you might want to keep your remote handy this week.

South Carolina TV viewers and radio listeners can expect a flood of campaign pitches during breaks between their favorite sitcoms and top 40 countdowns over the next week.

John Edwards and Wesley Clark will continue the steady stream of television ads that have been running for more than a month now, according to the campaigns and local television executives.

Howard Dean and Joe Lieberman will have ads, but Lieberman has scaled back his campaign on at least one local station.

“Tomorrow we’ll see five candidates on the air,” said Rich O’Dell, general manager for CBS affiliate WLTX (Channel 19).

That’s because John Kerry, who had been absent from Columbia airwaves, bought ads throughout the state for the first time this week. He might be outspending all the candidates this week, with spots scheduled to begin today and run through Election Day in the state.

“That’s the first we’d really heard from him,” said Chris Bailey, general manager for ABC affiliate WOLO (Channel 25). “He’s placed some significant money in the market.”

The S.C. ad campaign is part of an advertising blitz by the Kerry campaign in all seven Feb. 3 states.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who has spent more time in the state than any other candidate, also has entered Columbia’s media market, buying radio ads on stations marketed to blacks.

His ad, which began running this week, features an appeal from hip hop mogul Russell Simmons and invokes the names of Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. It is running only on S.C. radio stations.

“We will not be taken for granted,” Sharpton says in the ad, a direct appeal to black voters.

Lieberman was apparently scaling back his advertising on the heels of an American Research Group poll that showed him with just 5 percent support in the state.

His campaign canceled most of his advertising that was to run on WOLO later this week, Bailey said.

Other Columbia television stations said Lieberman was maintaining a steady presence.

Clark rolls out a new television ad today that suggests he is a “Washington outsider” and will put national interests ahead of the “special interests,” said campaign spokeswoman Meighan Stone.

Local television executives said while viewers may feel inundated with campaign advertising this week, it won’t approach the level of advertising of fall 2002, when the gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races were going on at the same time.

“It’s almost exactly where we thought it would be in terms of spending,” Bailey said.

O’Dell said there are more ads this time around than during the 2000 Republican primary, which pitted then-Gov. George W. Bush against U.S. Sen. John McCain.

“There are a lot more candidates this time,” O’Dell said. “It may seem like you’re seeing a lot more activity.”

Cheryl Seminara, general sales manager for WWDM “The Big DM” 101.3 FM and WHXT, “Hot” 103.9 FM, said listeners should expect to hear a lot more ads in the coming week.

“Politicians are recognizing the importance of the minority and African-American vote,” she said. “We’ve got quite a considerable amount of (political) advertising.”

Reach Drake at (803) 771-8692 or jdrake@thestate.com.