A video image from the Bush campaign's 'Wolves' advertisement. Photograph: AP
Between now and election day an estimated $40m (£22m) will be spent on television and radio advertising.
The Kerry campaign has a series focused on "hope" and a "fresh start" for America; Bush's people are playing up the fear factor. One of the more recent ads - Wolves - showed a pack of the snarling beasts to represent the threats facing the US. The John Kerry-endorsing Wolfpacks for Truth is shocked - others have mocked. New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd suggested a Democrat response ad could show goose-hunter Senator Kerry turning his gun on the wolves, while Wonkette is just plain baffled.
Didn't George Bush say this weekend that "anyone who thinks we're fighting a metaphor" fails to understand the enemy?
Eep! Does that mean that his new ad is more predictive than we thought? Those wolves aren't just terrorists but actual bloody-fanged monsters who just ate grandma? Oh, Jesus fuck … The war on terror really is bigger than we thought. First it's Osama, then the wolves.
To put the ad spend in a British context, Labour and the Tories spent only a million or so more on the last general election. And it doesn't work arguing the US is a vastly bigger country, nearly all the advertising will be directed at the swing states. So don't expect a break from the election if you just want to put your feet up in front of the television and live in Pennsylvania or Ohio. And try not to have nightmares about wolves.
