NASHVILLE (AP) — Supporters and opponents of a proposed amendment to the Tennessee Constitution to give lawmakers more power to regulate abortion are flooding the television airwaves to try to influence voters ahead next month's election.
A new study released by the non-partisan Center for Public Integrity on Thursday finds that a total of $2.4 million has been spent to run more than 3,000 TV spots about ballot measures going before voters this election, with the vast majority of the advertising concerning the abortion amendment.
Amendment One seeks to nullify a 2000 Tennessee Supreme Court decision that found several abortion restrictions in state law at the time violated a woman's fundamental right to privacy as guaranteed in the Tennessee Constitution. The decision struck down laws requiring a two-day waiting period and mandatory physician-only counseling and those banning second-trimester abortions from taking place anywhere but a hospital.
Opponents of the amendment have spent $1.3 million to run nearly 1,400 ads through the start of this week, while supporters have run 730 ads at a cost of about $606,000, according to the study.
The Vote No on One group is largely funded by Planned Parenthood, while the group supporting the amendment has been organized by Tennessee Right to Life. Advertising spiked in the week surrounding the start of early voting on Oct. 15, featuring a total of 1,136 spots by both sides at a combined cost of nearly $1 million.
Supporters of another ballot measure to largely keep Tennessee's current system for merit selection of Supreme Court and appeals judges have spent about $280,000 to run 440 ads. Opponents have not run any ads on Amendment Two, nor have there been any ads on the other two amendments on the ballot seeking to ban a state income tax and to allow charitable gaming by veterans groups.
Meanwhile, a group called Red White and Food has spent about $222,000 on ads to support local referendums on allowing wine to be sold in supermarkets.
The Center for Public Integrity reviewed data about political advertising on national cable and broadcast television and used research from Kantar Media/CMAG, which tracks political advertising and offers a widely accepted estimate of the money spent to air each spot between Jan. 1, 2013, and Monday.
These figures only represent part of the money spent on political advertising. They do not include any money spent on ads on radio, online and direct mail, nor do the numbers reflect ads that aired on local cable systems. The estimates also do not account for the cost of making the ads. That means the total cost of spending on political ads is likely significantly higher.
Campaign finance data rarely, if ever, present a hard total for all spending. A total like that usually is not available for months or sometimes years after the fact, and still is likely to miss some money.