共和党人正在为激烈竞争的参议院选举投入数亿美元广告费，他们正争分夺秒地在中期选举最后阶段捍卫日益激烈竞争的共和党席位。
Republicans are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising in battleground Senate races as they scramble to defend increasingly competitive GOP seats in the final stretch of the midterms.
但在他们能将一美元花到何种程度的问题上，他们实际上是在全食超市（Whole Foods）支付溢价，而民主党人则是在好市多（Costco）寻找优惠。
But when it comes to how far they can stretch a dollar, they’re effectively paying premium prices at Whole Foods while Democrats are shopping deals at Costco.
根据AdImpact的数据，上个月在九个竞争最激烈的参议院选举中，共和党在广播电视广告上的累计支出比民主党多出近100%，达到2.33亿美元，而民主党为1.21亿美元，但共和党仅获得了约40%更多的收视点。
Across nine of the most competitive Senate races last month, Republicans cumulatively outspent Democrats on broadcast TV ads by nearly 100% more, $233 million to $121 million, according to AdImpact data, but only saw about 40% more rating points.
这种差异源于策略的不同。共和党严重依赖外部团体，如超级政治行动委员会（super PACs），这些团体为广告支付更高费用，并且在竞选后期进行大规模采购，当时广告库存紧张。
The disparity comes down to a difference in strategy. Republicans are relying heavily on outside groups, like super PACs, that pay elevated rates for ads and are making big buys late in the campaign, when inventory is stretched.
相比之下，民主党利用了候选人的折扣费率以及更早、更便宜的预订。
By contrast, Democrats are taking advantage of discounted rates for candidates and earlier, less expensive reservations.
此时，共和党在花费更多却获得更少，这意味着他们巨额资金优势带来的“冲击与震慑”效应未必能转化为实际的地面影响，资深共和党策略师约翰·托马斯（John Thomas）如此表示。
At this stage in the game, Republicans are spending more to get less, which means the “shock and awe” of their massive dollar advantage isn’t necessarily translating to an actual impact on the ground, according to veteran Republican strategist John Thomas.
他指出，更好的衡量标准是考虑总收视点（GRPs），这是广告商用来衡量广告活动覆盖范围和频率的单位，与实际支付金额无关。
A better metric, he said, is to consider the gross rating points, or GRPs, a unit advertisers use to measure the reach and frequency of an ad campaign, independent of how much was paid for it.
在这九个选举中——外部团体约占共和党广告支出的9/10，而民主党约占一半——民主党每个GRP的支出为201美元，而共和党约为274美元。
In those nine races – where outside groups accounted for about 9 in 10 Republican ad dollars, compared to about half for Democrats – Democrats paid $201 per GRP, while Republicans paid about $274.
在九月的一些选举中，民主党实际上在GRPs上超过了共和党，完全弥补了他们的支出劣势。
In some races in September, Democrats actually outpaced Republicans in GRPs, completely overcoming their spending edge.
例如，在北卡罗来纳州，共和党在9月份的电视广告支出约为1700万美元，而民主党为1400万美元。前州长罗伊·库珀对前共和党全国委员会主席迈克尔·惠特利构成重大威胁，也威胁到共和党保持参议员汤姆·蒂利斯席位的前景。但民主党的支出获得了超过71000个GRP，而共和党的支出仅获得约58000个GRP。10月初，共和党在认识到惠特利面临的艰难且昂贵的前景后，实际上开始削减其剩余的广告预订，削减幅度约为1500万美元。
In North Carolina, for example, Republicans outspent Democrats by about $17 million to $14 million on TV ads in September, as former Gov. Roy Cooper poses a major threat to former RNC Chair Michael Whatley and the GOP chances of holding Sen. Thom Tillis’ seat. But Democrats got more than 71,000 GRPs from their spend while Republicans got about 58,000. And at the beginning of October – recognizing the costly, difficult road ahead for Whatley – Republicans actually began cutting their remaining ad bookings by about $15 million.
上个月，民主党在缅因州也被共和党超支约32%。这是另一个主要的激烈竞争选区，前州参议员特罗伊·杰克逊正试图击败资深共和党现任参议员苏珊·柯林斯，后者得到了全国共和党的大力支持。但在此情况下，尽管被超支，民主党的支出仍获得了6%更多的GRP。
Democrats were also outspent last month by Republicans in Maine by about 32%, another premier battleground race where former state Sen. Troy Jackson is looking to unseat veteran GOP incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, who has received major backing from national Republicans. But here, again, despite being outspent, Democrats got 6% more GRPs for their money.
即使在得克萨斯州——民主党在9月份被共和党广告支出压制，被超支超过4倍——GRP的差距也相对较小。共和党仅获得了2.6倍的GRP。
Even in Texas – where Democrats were blasted by Republican ad money in September, outspent more than 4 times over – the GRP gap was proportionally much smaller. Republicans got only 2.6 times more GRPs.
一个共和党超级政治行动委员会不得不花费超过2200万美元来播放其顶级广告，该广告宣传得克萨斯州司法部长肯·帕克斯顿作为检察官的记录，在9月份播放了约15500次。民主党参议员候选人詹姆斯·塔拉里科的竞选活动花费略低于400万美元来播放其播放次数最多的广告，将帕克斯顿描述为“得克萨斯州最腐败的政治家”，播放了约8000次。这相当于不到五分之一的支出，却获得了大约一半的播出次数。
A GOP super PAC had to spend more than $22 million to air its top ad, touting Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s record as a prosecutor, about 15,500 times in September. Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico’s campaign spent a little under $4 million to air its most aired ad, casting Paxton as “the most corrupt politician in Texas,” about 8,000 times. That amounts to less than one-fifth the spending for about half the airtime.
参议院多数派政治行动委员会的传播总监劳伦·弗伦奇也强调，在选举周期后期购买电视广告变得极其昂贵。“竞选的琐碎之处在于，并非所有广告时段的成本都相同，”她说。
Lauren French, communications director for Senate Majority PAC, a leading Democratic super PAC, also emphasized that buying TV late in the cycle becomes exorbitantly expensive. “The nitty-gritty of campaigning is that not all ad space costs the same,” she said.
“如果你在二月购买某样东西，价格会便宜很多，而且你花同样的钱能获得的效果也会比，比如说，九月购买时高很多。这就是为什么你会看到，在这些选举中，共和党人平均支付的费用与民主党人支付的费用之间存在如此巨大的差距，”弗朗奇说。
“If you are buying something in February, it’s going to be a lot cheaper, and you’re going to get a lot more bang for your buck than, say, if you’re buying it in September. So that’s why you’re seeing this huge disconnect between what Republicans are paying and what Democrats are paying on average in some of these races,” French said.
在九月份总电视和广告广告支出排名前九的参议院竞选中，有七个州的民主党人每个GRP的支出低于共和党人。
In seven of the top nine Senate races by total TV and radio ad spending in September, Democrats paid less per GRP than Republicans.
例外的是新罕布什尔州和阿拉斯加州。共和党人对他们的提名人充满信心，能够在这两个州的关键市场获得相当或更好的广告费率。在新罕布什尔州，这种情况因共和党人将相对更多的资金分配到较便宜的次级市场而得到进一步强化。
The two exceptions were New Hampshire and Alaska. Confident in their nominees, Republicans were able to secure comparable or better rates in both states’ key markets. In New Hampshire, this was reinforced by Republicans allocating relatively more to cheaper secondary markets.
“总体来说，共和党人在使用资金方面效率很低，而民意调查显示，人们看到他们的广告次数远低于预期。因此，仅凭这一点，他们的部分资金实际上是在被浪费。我们在这些州中的很多地方被对手在支出上压制，这意味着我们必须做出更具战略性的决策，”弗朗奇说。
“Broadly speaking, Republicans are using their money pretty ineffectively, and public polling is saying that people are not seeing their ads as much as one would expect. So, by that definition alone, some of their money is being set on fire. We are being outspent in a lot of these states, which means we have to make more strategic decisions,” French said.
托马斯表示，德克萨斯州尤其体现了这种效应，共和党外部团队正在为帕克斯顿发起紧急救援行动，并向该州投入大量资金。他指出，帕克斯顿的盟友们已经开始在全国NFL转播中购买广告时段，因为当地市场广告位已经变得极其拥挤。这就是为什么全国各地的人们都能看到德克萨斯州参议院的广告，即使这些比赛不包括达拉斯牛仔队或休斯顿德州人队。
Thomas said that Texas, in particular, was emblematic of this effect, with GOP outside groups mounting an urgent rescue effort for Paxton and pouring money into the state. He noted that Paxton allies had taken to buying ad time on national NFL broadcasts because local markets had grown so crowded. That’s why people across the country are seeing Texas Senate ads in games that don’t include the Dallas Cowboys or Houston Texans.
“在某些情况下，由于某些本地市场（比如休斯顿）的广告费用极高，实际上有时购买全国性广告时段会更便宜，”他说。
“In some cases, because the commercial rate is so high in a local, like a Houston spot, it actually sometimes can be cheaper to buy a national spot,” he said.
民主党人的效率优势本来可能会更大，因为他们的候选人在逐竞选对比中一直筹集到的资金多于共和党对手，这使他们能够以更低的成本直接在自己的广告上投入更多资金。
Democrats’ efficiency advantage might have been much greater, given their candidates have consistently raised more money their Republican opponents on a campaign-to-campaign basis, allowing them to spend more directly on their own ads at cheap rates.
但得益于最高法院最近的一项裁决，今年首次，全国政党委员会可以通过协调购买，利用候选人广告费率。
But thanks to a recent Supreme Court ruling, for the first time this year, national party committees can take advantage of candidate ad rates through coordinated buys.
这意味着资金雄厚的全国性委员会——如全国共和党国会委员会或全国共和党参议院委员会——可以与候选人合作——例如密歇根州的迈克·罗杰斯或俄亥俄州参议员乔恩·哈斯特德——并承担昂贵的广告活动费用，同时享受候选人折扣。
This means well-funded national committees like the National Republican Congressional Committee or National Republican Senate Committee can team up with candidates – like Mike Rogers in Michigan or Sen. Jon Husted in Ohio – and foot the bill for pricey ad campaigns while getting candidate discounts.
协调购买的扩大使共和党得以抵消民主党候选人的筹款优势。民主党也可以这样做，但共和党采取这一策略要激进得多：9月，共和党广告商在协调广告购买上花费超过3000万美元，而民主党仅约500万美元。
The expansion of coordinated buying has allowed Republicans to blunt the Democratic candidate fundraising advantage. Democrats can do the same, but the GOP has taken to it far more aggressively: In September, GOP advertisers spent more than $30 million on coordinated ad buys, compared to about $5 million from Democrats.
然而，超级政治行动委员会等外部团体仍发挥着主导作用，因为它们具有接受无限额捐款和进行无限额支出的独特能力。
Outside groups like super PACs still play a dominant role, however, due to their unique ability to accept unlimited donations and make unlimited expenditures.
托马斯说：“资金实际上非常、非常低效，但即使有超级政治行动委员会的低效性，其好处也是一两个人就能开出支票为整个项目提供资金。”
“The money is actually very, very inefficient, but the benefit, even with the inefficiency of a super PAC, is one or two people can cut checks and fund the whole thing,” Thomas said.