Paul's campaign will run three spots on national cable and local broadcast television. Paul to launch $1M TV ad buy

Ron Paul is launching a three-week, $1 million ad buy on Thursday, the biggest so far of his presidential campaign, POLITICO has learned.

The buy will include three different spots on national cable and local broadcast in the early-voting states. Paul’s campaign believes the ads will boost its chances of getting into the first tier of GOP hopefuls while his polling remains strong and the other candidates are not yet on the air.


“We think that now is the time to break through,” Paul adviser Jesse Benton said. “When we move up in Iowa and New Hampshire, we’re not going to be able to be ignored.”

The campaign is preparing a blitz of direct-mail and Internet advertising to coincide with the TV buy.

The first ad to be included is a 60-second spot touting his work on behalf of military veterans, with a softer, more human interest tone than his earlier, movie-trailer style ads. Rather than focusing on his libertarian philosophy, the ad turns to the type of constituent service work Paul rarely discusses: a pair of Vietnam veterans recall how Paul, helped them get medals for their service.

“Ron Paul is a veteran’s best friend,” Army veteran Rene Reyes says in the ad.

“It takes a veteran to understand a veteran,” says Army veteran Joe Pena.

A picture of Paul, a former Air Force flight surgeon himself, appears on screen, setting up a contrast to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has increased the references to his own time as a pilot in recent days.

The first ad will run for 10 days before the campaign switches to additional new spots.

The ad, along with another positive spot to follow and later a third that will take more shots at Perry, Paul’s favorite target, will run heavily on Fox News and on local broadcast networks in Iowa and New Hampshire. It will also run lightly on broadcast networks in South Carolina and Nevada.