Blitz of health care ads a windfall for TV stations

USA Today reports:

The congressional debate over health care has produced an unexpected recession windfall: a television advertising boom in the home states of pivotal lawmakers.

The multimillion-dollar effort to win votes could determine the fate of legislation that the Senate begins debating next week. Evan Tracey with the non-partisan Campaign Media Analysis Group has counted more than 70 organizations, from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to individual physicians, that are targeting undecided lawmakers with TV commercials. The spending is unprecedented for a non-campaign season and especially welcome in the economic downturn, station executives and ad experts say.