The most effective way to communicate with voters in a state as large as California is through television and cable advertising. It also happens to be the most expensive. That said, we can certainly be sure we will get to see a LOT of it coming from the two candidates who want to be the Republican nominee for Governor. Thus far, the campaign of Steve Poizner has not been doing any direct voter contact (obviously choosing to wait until close to the election which is still four months out), and the Whitman campaign has been running a series of statewide radio spots.
As of today, the television "phase" officially begins in this primary — with the announcement today that Meg Whitman’s campaign is launching their first statewide television and cable ad. The ad, which is below, will be running in all of California’s media markets. And our FR sources have verified that it is a substantial seven-figure buy (not one of those minimal buys geared more towards earned media coverage of it).
Clearly this throws the gauntlet down to Whitman’s opponent, Steve Poizner. He’s need to get up his own advertising campaign yesterday if he wants to avoid a scenario where Whitman enjoys the advantage of being the only one communicating with voters. Then again, in February, are the voters paying attention quite yet?