• The Associated Press, Thursday, September 18, 2008 9:15 AM

If you haven't seen the negative presidential campaign ads the media's been fussing over, it's because they are not being aired. The presidential candidates are putting some of their most provocative claims in videos meant to get the attention of the media without the expense of actually buying time to show them, says Evan Tracey, TNS chief.

Each campaign appears to be rolling out new ads at the rate of one or more a day, but only four or five make up the bulk of the ads that television viewers see during commercial breaks.

Two ads, for instance, have been repeatedly shown on cable news shows and analyzed in the press. They are the McCain ad that criticizes Obama for supporting sex education for kindergärtners and the Obama ad depicting McCain as unable to use a computer or e-mail. Both have only been shown a few times on air, per TNS.

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