By injecting $2 million of his personal money into his campaign, Bob Corker has triggered the "millionaire's clause" which raises the personal contribution limits for his opponent Harold Ford Jr. from $2100 to $12,600 per person for the general election.

There was some speculation in this earlier thread as to whether it might be too late for Ford to take advantage of this, with only three and a half business days before the polls open on Nov. 7th.

Regarding TV ad buys, I asked Gene Patterson at WATE about it and he said that they could take orders for the weekend up until close of business Friday. He said the logs had already been printed, but "accommodations can be made." He also said that if a candidate already had buys in place (as Corker did), they have to clear their inventory to provide equal time (which has apparently been causing problems with local advertisers for the past few weeks). It also appears Ford placed buys this morning, possibly in anticipation of Corker's injection of personal cash.

This is probably inside baseball stuff that is of little interest to most voters, but I found it quite interesting (one aspect being how many million moving parts there are in managing a campaign). The upshot is that you can probably expect an even heavier barrage of ads this weekend than one might have anticipated going into the final weekend before the election.

Gene Patterson has more at his blog.

UPDATE: Sources tell us Ford will have no problem matching Corker's $2 million.

volwoman's picture

Thank you. Glad to hear that

Thank you. Glad to hear that Ford can have equal time.

Eleanor A's picture

Don't forget

Campaigns can legally give one another money. So can candidates' PACs.

I suspect Ford has found a way to receive some fundage from candidates in the Northeast and elsewhere who are flush with cash.

Steve Plonk's picture

Harold Ford

More power to Harold Ford. Give 'em hell, Harry! I voted, to no ones suprise, a straight Democratic ticket in early voting. Incidentally, they never did, so far, pull that "playboy ad" down here in Chattanooga. Chatt-town republicans appear to be die-hards.
Anyhow, that is my take on the election. Ford may yet squeak by and pull a win on our "former" mayor. I hope that Corker may also be
a "failed senatorial candidate" once again, like he was in the primary against Frist. Corker acts and talks like the "South Carolinian" that he really is. Why doesn't he move back over there?

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