Will Election 2012 deliver a mobile ad breakthrough?

The campaign for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will spend big dollars this summer to deliver ads to voters’ iPhones and iPads. The Romney team will deliver mobile ads in swing states to complement TV ads. Romney campaign is the first to buy ads delivered on Apple’s advertising platform, iAd.

The campaign explained the ad purchases to the Journal, saying that mobile devices are ”the most personal device you carry. We felt like we wanted to connect with people where they spend their time.” Romney’s move also suggests that, in the same way that 2008 was the first social media election, the 2012 campaign will be the first to include widespread adoption of mobile ads. Both campaigns are predicted to spend $159 million on online advertising, and the mobile portion of that could help shape the extent to which consumers will accept ads on their phones and tablets. So far, mobile advertising has sputtered despite perennial predictions of a big breakout.