By James Jefferson
Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — Spirited national debates on landmark issues have given Arkansas television stations plenty to be thankful for — a steady flow of political ad spending at a time when a trickle is normal.

For months, special interests have flooded the airwaves with issue ads in an attempt to sway public opinion — and, by extension, lawmakers’ votes — on a range of issues from card check to health care reform and clean energy legislation currently pending before Congress.

Television stations are reaping a windfall from political ad bookings in a non-election year, with revenues in some cases dwarfing what sales brought in during the 2008 presidential campaign.

Chad Beckham, sales manager for KARK-TV in Little Rock, said his station has pulled in just over $1 million in political ad revenue so far this year, more than double the $400,000 generated during all of last year’s race for the White House.

“Far and above, in 2009 the issue ad spending on health care, cap and trade and all (has exceeded) anything that could have been expected,” Beckham said.

“It’s caught everybody off guard. Even this week being a holiday week, we kind of thought we’d see the spending slow down,” he said. “But if anything, it’s picked up a bit. Let me put it this way, you can’t get out of the way of the money.”

Chuck Spohn, vice president and general manager of KLRT-Fox 16 in Little Rock, noted that political ad sales in years between elections are generally slow.

But Spohn and other television executives said a surge that actually began in late 2008 has continued through every quarter of this year, producing what Spohn said has been the busiest off-election cycle year for political advertising in recent memory.

Stephanie Duckworth, sales manager for KAIT-TV in Jonesboro, said the influx in political advertising came as a complete surprise.

“It’s very much a surprise, at the weight that they would throw at this,” Duckworth said. “Especially, the last four weeks, it’s been very heavy. Since the first of September, we’ve seen a significant increase in that activity.

Spurring political sales in Arkansas has been the pivotal role some members of the state’s congressional delegation have and continue to play in the monumental issues of the day.

On Nov. 21, U.S. Sen Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., cast one of the deciding votes to provide Democrats with the 60 votes needed to avoid a Republican filibuster and advance bitterly-contested health care reform legislation to the Senate floor for debate.

A day later, in one of the most recent health care ad campaigns, the Alexandria, Va.-based 60 Plus Association announced a $2 million ad buy for commercials accusing Lincoln in particular as well as senators in eight other states of jeopardizing Medicare with their votes to advance the measure.

Lincoln and U.S. Mark Pryor, also D-Ark., are among a handful of centrist Senate Democrats who political observers believe hold the key to the fate of President Obama’s top domestic priority.

U.S. Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., leader of the conservative Blue Dog Democrats in the House, has emerged as a key dissenting vote in the president’s party on health care reform and on climate change legislation, another key issue for the president.

Votes for the House health care bill by Arkansas Democrats Marion Berry and Vic Snyder helped provide the razor-thin margin by which the measure passed by a 220-215 vote.

Their votes also have made them a target of television ads by opponents of Democratic health care reform efforts.

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Rob Moritz and Lewis Delavan contributed to this report.