Nielsen has counted up the number of ads run by political candidates between June and September in three upcoming races.

In Virginia, the two gubernatiorial candidates, Democrat Creigh Deeds and Republican Bob McDonnell, are fairly evenly matched. Over the last three months, McDonnell has aired about 400 more ads than Deeds:

VIRGINIA GOVERNOR (6/11 TO 9/20/09)
MCDONNELL (R) – 4382
DEEDS (D) – 3986

McDonnell is leading the VA Gov race by 7.3% in the RCP Average.

Now look at New Jersey. Incumbent Governor John Corzine is out advertising his opponent, Republican Chris Christie, by about 3.5 to 1:

NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR (6/3 TO 9/20/09)
CORZINE (D) – 4806
CHRISTIE (R) – 1393

Despite that massive advertising advantage, Corzine is still hovering around the 40% mark and trails Christie by 1.8 points - though Daggett's rise has this race trending in his favor.

Lastly, we get to King Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg has already spent close to $150 million dollars in his two previous runs for mayor - about half of that amount being spent four years ago against token Republican opposition.

Now running for a third term after successfully lobbying the City Council to change the city's election law, Bloomberg is once again serving as a one-man stimulus for the New York City media market, outadvertising his opponent by 336 to 1:

NEW YORK MAYOR (6/1 TO 9/20/09)
BLOOMBERG (I) – 4706
THOMPSON (D) – 14

As you can see from the polls, however, buying an election ain't what it used to be for Bloomberg. Despite his massive ad overkill, Bloomberg is winning just 51.7% support in the polls and leads by eleven points over Thompson who is at 40.7%.