"Celebrity" Ad Increased McCain Coverage

Matt Lewis | August 06, 2008 4:19 PM

From Pew Research Center:

"For the first time since this general election campaign began in early June, Republican John McCain attracted virtually as much media attention as his Democratic rival last week."

As this clearly graph demonstrates, all the hand-wringing over the "celeb" ad was over-wrought.

McCain has finally started driving the narrative, and the "celebrity" ad was one of the reasons for this. McCain may not be as exciting as Obama -- but his ads can be.

Of course, media attention does not always equal votes, but the increase in media attention, in this case, seems to correspond with McCain's rise in the polls.

The question (as many of us have been saying) is whether or not McCain, himself, will cave under the pressure -- or if he will be willing to keep the pressure on Obama, and continue defining him.