The $weet Perks of Being a Swing State

John McCain is saying goodbye to Michigan. On Thursday, the Senator stopped sending out mailers, ended TV ads in the swing state, and redeployed most of his Michigan staff off to other more competitive states. He also cancelled an event in Plymouth, Mich. While this seems to be bad news for McCain, who hoped to put the Wolverine State in play, it might also be bad news for the state itself.

With record amounts of fundraising this campaign season, both campaigns are dumping a good chunk of their money and time into the swing states. Michigan, which voted for Democrat John Kerry in '04, has been one of the more traditional swing states, along with Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The new kids on the block up for grabs this year are Colorado, Indiana, North Carolina and Virginia.

If Michigan moves off that list, the state could see a drop in advertising money. And local communities will miss out on potential revenue dollars from presidential rallies and volunteer visits.

But how much does being a swing state actually bring in to the local residents?

Campaign Events
When Sarah Palin pulled into Lady Lake, Fla. for a rally on September 21, she drew a crowd of somewhere between 25,000 (according to a fire official on site) and 60,000 (according to GOP officials) to the central Florida community, population 13,244. According to on site reports, traffic backed up for blocks hours before the event, and turkey legs and soft serve ice cream were for sale in the town square. The surge in visitors temporarily transformed Lady Lake from a quiet retirement community into a bustling metropolis for the day.

But not every campaign event brings a boon for local business. Often rallies and talks are smaller events that take place for an hour or two before the buses haul out to the next town. Just like vice presidential nominee Joe Biden’s visit to Greensburg, Pa. last week..

"Quite honestly, the event was at the high school on the outskirts of town and they didn't stay," says a spokesperson for the Greensburg mayor's office. "It's not like when President Clinton came 10 years ago in the middle of the day and they closed down Main Street." While the Biden event didn't cause the same stir, the spokesperson did note it drew visitors from outside the immediate area.

Media Buys
Over 15 million dollars were spent on television advertisements in the two weeks following the presidential conventions this year, according to a study by TNS Media Intelligence/CMA. But out of all that money, Obama only aired ads in seventeen states, and McCain aired ads in fifteen. The biggest recipients were the four largest swing states: Pennsylvania ($2.6 million), Florida ($2.3 million), Michigan ($1.7 million) and Ohio ($1.6 million). But even small states like Colorado ($1.0 million) and Nevada ($600,000) are getting in on the advertising action. And that's only in a two-week period. Counting the primaries and the whole election process, these states are seeing some serious ad revenue rolling in. But where are these dollars going?

When a campaign announces a large media buy, about 93-96% goes to TV ads. "Mostly they're buying time in local TV markets," says Jack Poor, vice president of marketing at the Television Bureau of Advertising, a non-profit trade association. Generally, local affiliates are owned by big corporations like Scripps-Howard (STOCK QUOTE: SSP) or Hearst (STOCK QUOTE: HTV). "The money very specifically goes right to the broadcast operator," says Poor. "And whether he's a local operator or not, it won't diffuse itself into the local economy."

Volunteer Invasion
Between Barack Obama's grassroots organization and Sarah Palin's electrification of the GOP base, the volunteer effort this cycle has been strong. In swing states, these volunteers often cross state borders, but that doesn't mean they're pumping up the local economies.

Richard Keyes, a lawyer from San Mateo, Calif. has been volunteering for campaigns since 1972. But when pounding the pavement for the 2004 campaign, he would almost exclusively take day trips from California to Nevada, only once staying overnight in a motel. "I'd leave at 4:30 in the morning and get back at 11 PM," says Keyes. And he wasn’t spending much money either, recalling his time eating the free donuts at headquarters and walking precincts.

If the lawyer isn't infusing money into the local economy, it's tough to imagine college student volunteers are dropping too many dimes on Main Street.