Let the Media Spread Your Message ...

Don't have enough money to run as many TV ads as you'd like to?

... One possible way to get your message out is to create a controversial ad -- and then let the media spread it around.

That seems to be what John McCain's campaign is doing right now. Today's NYT story, titled: "With Commercial, McCain Gets Much More Than His Money's Worth" highlights how the McCain team has pulled this off:

"Result for Mr. McCain: a public relations coup that allowed him to show his toughest campaign advertisement of the year -- one widely panned as misleading -- to millions of people, largely free, through television news media hungry for political news with arresting visual imagery.

Political campaigns have for years sought to broadcast their ads free by making them intriguing enough to draw wide coverage from news outlets.

And Mr. McCain’s campaign has proved particularly adept at getting such free air time in recent weeks, as news stations endlessly repeat the advertisements, which feature provocative visuals that can fill time during a relative lull in the campaign season."