If the amount of television ads being run are any indication, Florida is going to be a very red state come November.

It's impossible to watch ten minutes of television without every other commercial being a campaign ad, whether it be from one of the official campaigns or from supporting Super PACs. I've seen ads from the official Obama and Romney campaigns, Restore Our Future PAC (supports Romney), Priorities USA Action PAC (supports Obama), and many more. The theme appears the same in the ads supporting each respective candidate: Those supporting Governor Romney state that we "can't afford four more years" and need a leader who will truly lead and keep his promises, while those supporting President Obama state that Governor Romney cares more about the wealthy than he does the middle class.

As a political junkie, I enjoy seeing so many campaign ads. The large amount of them, however, has made me wonder how much impact these ads actually have on voters. Columbia and Stanford Universities conducted research on the topic regarding the 2000 and 2004 Presidential elections; they found that if advertising was eliminated during the 2000 election and all other factors remained the same, the electoral votes from three states would have changed parties. Considering how close the 2000 election was, this could have resulted in a different President.

Negative advertising has a surprisingly positive effect for many campaigns in the days following their release; however, those negative ads only work "until people see the real guy" outside the television ads. President Obama's ads have been consistently negative in Florida and the President has been leading-- after the debate last week, Florida's numbers have changed to put Governor Romney ahead by two. Governor Romney is not without negative ads, but his cite facts; many of President Obama's use the crucial but seemingly overlooked word "could," discrediting much of what the ads claim Governor Romney "could" do if being elected President. Ads that are negative because they highlight a legitimate issue with an opponent's record, but scare tactics are a different issue altogether.

The amount of money raised and spent by Super PACs is enormous. During this election cycle, Conservative PACs have spent more than $100 million more than Liberal PACs. Many PACs use that money to run television ads in key swing states, and Florida has definitely been singled out as a battleground that both candidates are fighting in-- hardly a surprising fact after the impact Florida had on the 2000 election.

The result of these ads will be concluded on November 6th; until then, residents of Florida will most likely see an increase in the number of ads being run on every television station. I believe these ads are having a more positive impact for Governor Romney than they are for President Obama. Advertising must be truthful for it to be positively effective, and the Obama campaign seems to be missing that in their ads.