Politics | John McCain McCain Hopes $6M Olympic Ad Buy a Winner Last-minute grab, rare in national reach, tops Dem's $5M outlay By Kevin Spak Posted Aug 5, 2008 2:02 PM CDT Copied A member of the Secret Service stands guard next to a screen with John McCain, as McCain delivers the keynote speech to the National Urban League Annual Conference, Aug. 1, 2008, in Orlando. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) Athletes won’t be the only competitors when the Beijing Olympics open Friday, Advertising Age reports: John McCain’s campaign made a last-minute, $6 million ad buy with NBC, topping the whopping $5 million Democratic opponent Barack Obama is spending. The large national scope of the advertising blitz is a rarity in recent presidential campaigns. “For the same reason the idea was good for Barack, it is good for McCain. It's high traffic for eyeballs in a normally low-traffic time of year,” said one media analyst, who also thinks McCain needs to burn his primary-season funds, which can’t be spent after the Republican National Convention. Read These Next In this murder, arresting the boyfriend was a big mistake. Sammy Davis Jr.'s ex, Swedish actor May Britt, is dead at 91. Online sleuths expose Epstein file redactions. Bizarre video shows thieves pulling an ATM out of store with SUV. Report an error