The Obama and Romney campaigns’ attack-ad spending is soaring as they heighten their focus on the battleground states this fall. With less than three months before November, both candidates have minimal time to alter perceptions and voting preferences. While the medi debates the effectiveness of the ad war, the polls still show a dead heat.

That should tell us something. Attack ads won’t win this election for either side. The game changer this election season will be each campaign’s ground game. In the gubernatorial race in Wisconsin, which was about as heated a campaign as you could imagine, Gov. Scott Walker did not prevail because of his attack ads. Rather, it was the grassroots efforts that mobilized the Tea Party to get voters to the polls that beat the union-backed recall effort.