Putnam is a political ad-maker for candidates like Gross, an orthopedic surgeon who has never held office and is running as a left-leaning independent in deep-red Alaska. When the 2020 campaign cycle began, political ad spending was already projected to hit a record $6 billion. By May, new projections estimated that political ad spending would exceed that original record-breaking figure to the tune of $6.7 billion. (Ash Adams)A few weeks before the Alaska shoot, I met Putnam at the D.C. office of Putnam Partners, the political ad firm he co-founded nearly 10 years ago. It was so bad that, from then on, “I started watching political ads in a way that I don’t think your normal 10-year-old watches a political ad,” he told me.

Source: Washington Post October 27, 2020 14:15 UTC