Obama campaign checking out ad rates

WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Officials from U.S. President Obama's re-election campaign requested ad rates from television stations in at least 14 states, a media strategist said.

The rate request, typically the first step in deciding to purchase air time, doesn't indicate when the buy would occur, but Republican strategists say they're preparing for what they think will be a multimillion-dollar campaign following Saturday's South Carolina primary, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

The re-election campaign is focusing on key battleground states, the strategist said. NBC News first reported the potential buy.

While the Republican candidates have been battling over the nomination -- and sinking millions on ads attacking Obama -- the president's re-election campaign has been relatively quiet.

Obama's first major TV ad buy also would signal the kick-off of the general election, even if the GOP primary process isn't concluded, the Times said. If that happens, some GOP strategists said they expect a commensurate response could come from Republican-aligned outside groups such as American Crossroads.

"The Obama campaign has really studied the Bush re-election playbook of 2004," said Michael Toner, an election law expert who was counsel to the first George W. Bush-Dick Cheney campaign. "They've looked at how Bush campaign dismantled Kerry. [They] immediately turned and blasted Kerry literally within days of Kerry being the presumptive nominee."