Obama Campaign Starts Buying Ad Time
President Obama arrives on stage at a campaign event at the University of Illinois at Chicago Wednesday. His campaign raised $68 million in the last three months of 2011.
President Barack Obama's re-election campaign is buying advertising time in key voting states, according to the Associated Press.
The move comes less than week before Obama is set to deliver his State of the Union address on Tuesday and signals what some are calling the next phase of the President's campaign efforts.
A campaign official told the AP that the Obama campaign has bought national air time on television stations in Michigan, Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Iowa. The official spoke on condition of anonymity and was not authorized to speak publicly about internal campaign strategy.
It also comes as the independent group Americans for Prosperity is starting a $6 million ad campaign in swing states Obama won in 2008, according to Bloomberg. Those ads targets the president’s ties to bankrupt solar-panel maker Solyndra LLC.
Obama's campaign has not yet officially launched its television advertising campaign, but the decision to buy ad time shows it could moving closer to taking on Republican opponents in the media space.
Following Tuesday's State of the Union address, the President is scheduled to travel to five states to discuss his policies.
The Democratic National Committee and the president's campaign raised $224 million last year, including $68 million at the end of 2011.