Sick to death of political ads on TV? Here’s hoping you don’t live in Las Vegas, where more such spots have hit the airwaves than any city in the country, says a government watchdog.
More than 2,300 political advertisements have been filed to run in Las Vegas since August — far outpacing Norfolk, Va., and Orlando, the No. 2 and 3 ranked markets, according to a Sunlight Foundation analysis of Federal Election Commission records.
Sin City tops the list of all types of ads filed with the exception of Senate races. That No. 1 spot goes to Pennsylvania, where Democratic Sen. Bob Casey is locked in a re-election challenge from Republican Tom Smith.
Las Vegas also scored more than twice as many ad files in the past seven days than second place Orlando.
And for those wanting to escape the ad wars, check out Mankato, Minn., which — with only one ad buy — is last on the Sunlight Foundation’s rankings.
Here is how the media markets rank overall, with ad files in parentheses. Not all filings represent ads actually bought and/or aired, and the data isn’t complete, Sunlight says:
Las Vegas (2,348)
Norfolk, Va. (1,556)
Orlando (1,500)
West Palm Beach, Fla. (1,313)
Pittsburgh (1,214)
Denver (1,169)
Tampa, Fla. (1,074)
Cleveland (1,045)
Sacramento, Calif. (1,013)
Cincinnati (1,000)
For more information see the Sunlight Foundation’s Political Ad Sleuth website at http://politicaladsleuth.com/.
