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Monday, August 27, 2012

Politics Marriage Equality PAC Reserves $5 Million in TV Ads

Posted by Dominic Holden on Mon, Aug 27, 2012 at 1:26 PM

Washington United for Marriage, the PAC attempting to pass a same-sex marriage law, has reserved $5 million in television commercials ramping up to the November 6 general election, says campaign director Zach Silk. They will begin airing after Labor Day, targeting swing voters that include suburban mothers and even conservative men who have libertarian views about domestic relationships.

The spending to approve Referendum 74 "starts to put us in the territory of some of the largest campaigns ever run in Washington State," Silk says. The group also hopes to raise "a few more million," he adds, for campaigning that includes targeted direct mail.

The heavy fundraising and early ad reservations put Washington State's marriage equality campaign on distinctly better footing than California—where marriage equality was overturned at the polls four years ago. In that state, pro-gay-rights forces donated money in the eleventh hour, "so late that they couldn't spent it wisely," Silk says.

Washington United has raised $6.1 million so far, though a quarter of that amount has already been spent, according to the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission. Meanwhile, anti-gay Preserve Marriage Washington has raised a a relatively scant $438,000—and has made no ad reservations, sources say—but is expected to receive an infusion of cash from the Catholic Church and the National Organization for Marriage.

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Now, if only we could tie candy sales to the referendum, imagine the money that would be poured into it.

Posted by MacCrocodile

on August 27, 2012 at 1:35 PM

A winning strategy - and the bucks to back it up. Now, keep working folks, not in the bag yet. Approve R-74. GB.

Posted by George Bakan on August 27, 2012 at 2:06 PM

So we have the money advantage, probably the organizational edge, this is reliably blue Washington State, public opinion is in favor, and the measure coincides with a big presidential election. There's absolutely no excuse, at all, for losing this, even if Romney starts to pull ahead near the end. If we lose this, I won't know what to say.

Posted by floater on August 27, 2012 at 2:21 PM

Wait for it, Dominic. The Yes on 1240 campaign for charters schools, they have at least $3M in tv ads scheduled. That's just tv. Word is that Gates and company are willing to spend $15-20M to win this thing.

They won't, of course, because the truth of about this dog of an initiative WILL win out because Washington State voters are not dumb but it is a huge amount of money.

We have our work cut out for us.

Posted by westello on August 27, 2012 at 4:03 PM

$5 Million in TV ads is great. More is better. People need to keep giving...

The campaign is trying to raise $500,000 by the end of the week to get a 1:1 match from HRC in DC. You can donate online here:

https://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50436/p/s…

Posted by pheeeew!crack!boom! on August 27, 2012 at 4:22 PM

Err... make that Freedom to Marry in New York, sted HRC in DC.

Posted by pheeeew!crack!boom! on August 27, 2012 at 4:23 PM

@4 (westello):

"[T]he truth about this dog of an initiative WILL win out because Washington State voters are not dumb . . . ."

As evidenced by the outcome of the income tax and 2/3 supermajority initiatives, Washington State voters are dumber than a bag of hammers and are easy marks for whoever has the best funded and most alarmist ad campaign.

Posted by PCM on August 27, 2012 at 4:35 PM

You should do a story on how a local Atheist group raised money for them, and their donations were refused.

Posted by annoyed on August 28, 2012 at 10:07 AM