The Wisconsin Advertising Project, based at the University of Wisconsin, notes that the presidential candidates are buying more advertising than in 2004.

As if it was hard to notice.

To date, the John McCain camp has spent about $21 million and Barack Obama spent $27 million.

But, there were more interesting tidbits in the report than just dollars and cents:

• McCain has narrated 20 percent of the ads sponsored by his campaign, while Obama has narrated 51 percent of his campaign ads.
• The top three issues Obama addresses in his ads are jobs, welfare and defense policy. McCain talks about energy policy, national defense and economic recession.
• Obama labeled himself "the candidate of change" in the primaries but now less than 1 percent of his ads mention the word "change."
• McCain used the word "hope" in more than 34 percent of his ads, while Obama has not used the "hope" since June 3.
• Once the target of criticism for not wearing an American flag pin on his lapel, Obama featured the flag in more than 68 percent of his ads. The flag appeared in 37 percent of McCain's ads.

Water Woes: Milwaukee Ald. Bob Bauman resisted the plan to sell more water to New Berlin. The suburb is dangling $1.5 million in front of the city as a bonus for Milwaukee increasing its flow to New Berlin from 4.8 million gallons per day to 6.3 million gallons. New Berlin would pay an annual fee of $996,000 in addition to the bonus cash.

Bauman found himself on the losing side of a 9-3 vote to hold off the sale for a month. He also tried valiantly by trying to use parliamentary procedure to get his way. That, too, failed.

"This is an incredibly wrong-headed decision," he said at the Council meeting.

Bauman suggested that the deal could be worth more than the $1.5 million signing bonus and proposed more research to figure how much more. Most of his colleagues, however, seemed inclined to approve the deal in front of them.

Dorm Debate: Neighborhood associations on the East Side are trying to get a head start in fending off potential UW-Milwaukee dorms from their neighborhoods.

The university is looking to build some 500 rooms of dorm space by 2010 and is fast-tracking it though the UWM Real Estate Foundation, allowing it to not have to submit to the usual bidding process or environmental impact statements the state would normally require.

So far, the university is mum on where it is considering the new pad, but some locations floating about include the old Hometown gas station on North Avenue, which developer Barry Mandel has already had his sights on, an area by the Tracks tavern near Locust and Humboldt, the old Heinemann's bakery site on Locust just west of the river next to a public housing complex, the old Prospect Mall and the former Lena's grocery store on East Capitol Drive.

Some of the groups are still smarting over UWM's RiverView dorms, which drew major neighborhood protests when it was built on parkland along the Milwaukee River.

At a community meeting this week, there was somewhat of a consensus that the university should build dorms downtown along with its new engineering school. After all, there is plenty of land available in the former Park East freeway corridor.

Indicating the mood of the homeowners versus the students, one resident suggested that the city create a "drinking only" district to corral the students in one area.

Prudent Policy: This one makes sense. State Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen issued an opinion that a county can prevent companies from being both a construction manager and the contractor on the same project, which means a company can't oversee itself when it comes to public works projects.

Not a bad idea. Van Hollen has been under fire from the right for not being a hardcore conservative, so maybe this opinion -- which essentially should assure taxpayers their dollars are protected -- might give him some conservative cred.

Speaking of managing contractors, the plan for a semi-pro baseball team in Waukesha has some interesting twists. Chad Bauer, who wants to bring the boys of summer to the banks of the Fox River, says he will put up more than $1 million for improvement to the city's Frame Park. The city, in turn, says it will spend up to $310,000 to help.

Bauer happens to own a company that builds baseball diamonds, so it will be interesting to see who gets the contract for that job.