When is an ad buy in Minnesota not about Minnesota?

Not a battleground. Huh?

President Barack Obama's campaign has made a very small ad buy in Minnesota to counter a new purchase by Mitt Romney in the state, an Obama campaign official and a Republican ad tracking source told CNN.

Earlier Friday a Romney campaign official confirmed it had bought a small amount of television ad time in Minneapolis. Two ad tracking sources told CNN the Romney buy was about $30,000 and would run Saturday through Tuesday. The amount of the Obama buy has not been disclosed.

$30,000 in an election where hundreds of millions have been spent isn't even chump change. Republicans claim that they can make Minnesota competitive. Well, if they were serious, they'd be laying seven figures on the line.

But really, this isn't even about Minnesota. Look at the Minneapolis-St. Paul media market where these buys are being made:

Republicans have already spent $5.5 million on television in Wisconsin this week, compared to about $2.8 million for Team Blue. This is a tepid extension of those efforts, hitting about a quarter million Wisconsin residents via their Minnesota-based media market. And some of these stations bleed into Iowa as well, as a bonus.

So yeah, nothing to see here.