Romney Spokesperson Confirms it: Mitt Hasn't Bought Any TV Ad Time In Any Feb. 5th State
With five days to go until Super Tuesday, Mitt Romney's spokesperson is confirming that the Romney campaign has bought exactly zero TV ad time in any of the states that vote on Feb. 5.
"We currently haven't purchased any ad time yet," Romney spokesperson Kevin Madden confirmed to Election Central, when asked about Feb. 5th states.
The Associated Press, relying on anonymous officials, reported the lack of any ad buying on the Romney campaign's part. The Politico also confirmed this late yesterday evening.
Even more interesting, Madden also refused to say whether the campaign would be buying any ad time in any Feb. 5th state. Asked if Romney would buy any time, Madden said: "We don't telegraph strategic decisions like ad buying ahead of time."
This suggests the possibility that the campaign won't be buying any time in advance of the multi-state showdown that is likely to decide the race. At the least, this is a big boost for John McCain. At the most, it could amount to a possible admission that the Romney camp thinks the race is pretty much over.
Late Update: A Romney campaign official tells me that the campaign will be purchasing ad time today, though the official declined to specify how much and where.
Late Late Update: The Romney buy is in California, the crucial big state where McCain picked up the endorsement of Arnold Schwarzenegger today.
Comments (30)
Michael A wrote on January 31, 2008 9:29 AM:Turn out the lights, the party's over. Just a week ago everyone was talking about a brokered convention on the republican side. Not happening, on 2/6 mccain will be the nominee. This really isn't surprising because after florida romney won't be able to stop the mo.
Unfortunately, if the dems don't get their act together, it will be mccain in 08. The dems cannot afford a brokered convention or a drawn out fight till the bitter end. A brokered convention would hand the presidency to mccain because supporters of the loser in a brokered convention will be so pissed that the dems will never take the white house.
to wrote on January 31, 2008 9:49 AM:Maybe Mitt is relying on the Limbaugh/Hannity slime machine to finish McCain off.
Doesn't seem to be working though.
Big Red wrote on January 31, 2008 9:51 AM:Every 4 years since 1000BC, or thereabouts, there is happy talk of a brokered convention but it never happens. And it isn't going to occur this year. There are a bunch of months (though they will seem like years) until the convention. It will be settled by then.
John Dillinger wrote on January 31, 2008 10:00 AM:I agree a bitter fight or brokered convention isn't good for the Dems, but a tight race that doesn't get too rancorous will have the country watching and listening, and ignoring McCain, which can be a good thing.
DownriverDem wrote on January 31, 2008 10:01 AM:The fix was in when McCain sucked up to Bush in 2004. Mitt looks like he was just informed.
Do you honestly think those who are against the worst administration in history (Bush) will vote for McCain to have more of the same?
With McCain:
More years of war in Iraq
War with Iran
No national health care plan
No ecomonic fix for every day folks
No evironmental programs to fight global warming,
No money to fix all the infractural problems our country faces
The list can go on and on. Unless the Bushies do something war like to scare the non thinking voters, McCain could be like Dole v Clinton in '96.
spencer wrote on January 31, 2008 10:29 AM:"Do you honestly think those who are against the worst administration in history (Bush) will vote for McCain to have more of the same?"
In a word? Yes.
There are a lot of dumb people with voter registration cards in this country. Many of them actually believe that John McCain is some kind of straight-talking independent maverick, instead of the party-line apparatchik that he really is.
They couldn't be more wrong, of course. But they still get to cast a ballot despite that.
That's democracy for ya.
airship wrote on January 31, 2008 10:45 AM:As a Mormon, Romney never stood a chance with the hard-core Evangelical Neocons who run the GOP now. They nearly wet themselves when Huckabee won Iowa, but as soon as it became evident that he couldn't win anywhere else, McCain was the only choice left. Florida just put the first nails in Romney's coffin.
I reluctantly predicted a year ago that McCain would be the next president of the US because no one else could take the GOP nomination and we would nominate Hillary, who is unelectable.
I still hope that Obama will win the nomination, but if it comes down to last-minute bickering at the convention, lots of Democrats will be turned off. Our best hope is solidarity, and as a lifelong Democrat, I know what the chance of THAT is likely to be! :)
Donal wrote on January 31, 2008 10:46 AM:McCain does well among independents, so a Dem victory is no sure thing.
Also there are signs that Nader may siphon off Green votes again.
AJM wrote on January 31, 2008 10:51 AM:Wishful thinking on the part of Obama supporters. There is a high probability that McCain could beat Obama as badly as Clinton beat Dole.
The McCain claim:
1.If the war had been fought as I suggested at the time we would already be out except for a contingent such as we have had in Korea for years without incident.
2. Congress will be democratic so fears of an actual war with Iran will be low (unless Iran does something stupid) but fears of Iran playing with nukes will be high enough that McCain's military background will appeal.
3. National Health plans scare the people who will vote for McCain.
4. The folks who listed the economy as a problem voted for him in Florida.
5. McCain will fight global warming -- he claims that he opposed it before the science was in but the hearings he held convinced him it is a real problem and he will take the hard steps to fix it the same way he called for the sacrifices necessary to conduct the Iraq war with sufficient troops to win the aftermath.
6. Infrastructure problems aren't that salient so his probable future failure there will be ignored. Or people will believe that if there is a problem he will straight talk with them and fix it.
And yes, Donnie McGlurkin and Jesse Jackson, Jr and Joe Lieberman have left me examining the alternatives. It started when I realized that I would never vote for anyone who headlined a racial bigot so why should I vote for Obama who headlined someone bigotted against gays?
I have since read Obama's The Audacity of Hope and have become convinced that Obama is a full time panderer and that positions I value are ones that make Obama queasy.
Well, in my office of supposedly educated people, McCain will beat Hillary in a walk. Not scientific, I know, but worrisome.
ANM wrote on January 31, 2008 11:12 AM:If Romney is indeed deciding to throw in the towel, he's absolutely crazy. He still has more money than McCain. If you look on the top of the TPM EC page, you'll see he's within the margin of error in California. And McCain still didn't win the majority of conservatives in Florida.
Yeah, the landscape favors McCain, but it is genuinely weird that Romney seems to be so meekly surrendering at this point, so much so that I wonder if some sort of deal has been struck.
Heretic wrote on January 31, 2008 11:19 AM:I am pretty much lock,stock, and barrel with AJM. It wasn't clear whether AJM was planning to vote for McCain, but I do agree that he could easily beat both Dems, possibly taking states like CA and NJ, which would seal the deal. As for the poster above who wrote McCain would give us:
more years of war in Iraq
war with Iran
no national health care plan
no ecomonic fix for every day folks,
I disagree. He will act on global warming. He is a real fiscal conservative (not a big spender like Bush) who will try and reduce the debt, which means scaling back in Iraq and no war with Iran. McCain is pretty well-positioned to claim the surge strategy was effective, and that he thought of it, but the Iraqis have reneged on their end, so its time to move out of combat zones. He will let the Bush tax cuts expire (actually he will have no choice) and he will likely push for tax cuts for the middle class. He will also support stem cell research, sign immigration reform, stop torture, and close Guantanamo. He will push for closing loopholes in McCain-Feingold and he will completely back off on free speech and religion issues. I also think he will do something about healthcare.
He doesn't really give a crap about his party, IMO; it's his legacy he is concerned with. If he is a Schwarzenegger repug, I can live with that. And personally, I am not sure I can stomach Obama. I hold most of his supporters beneath contempt. I couldn't imagine actually being a friend of such a person with their apparent complete lack of any grasp of most issues important to me. And to a large extent, it comes down to the religion thing. I absolutely do not want the Democratic party to be polluted with overt religiosity, feigned or otherwise. If anyone ever saw the last season of West Wing, I was totally rooting for the atheistic Alan Alda repug over the liberal godboy played by Jimmy Smits. Pretty much the same thing here.
DownriverDem wrote on January 31, 2008 11:20 AM:Okay, one more time:
A HUGE majority of voters are against Bush and his agenda.
McCain will only continue the Bush agenda.
Help me out here.
Why would a HUGE majority of voters vote in McCain when he is just a Bushie?
CGB wrote on January 31, 2008 11:22 AM:McCain is an old man and will not win the youth vote. Will they vote?
You bet your sweet bottom they will!
Ratsy wrote on January 31, 2008 11:24 AM:And the youth will vote for the Dem right along with their parents. These are Baby Boomer kids and they are PROGRESSIVE TO THE CORE!
Nickgb wrote on January 31, 2008 11:26 AM:Which of these stories is right?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22932476/from/RSS/
twirling fartknocker wrote on January 31, 2008 11:26 AM:McCain has NO MONEY so Mitt is spending no less than McCain is here.
Mitt could be getting ready to drop out, but maybe he's just not spending more than he has to to stay in it.
AGN wrote on January 31, 2008 11:28 AM:@DownriverDem
Sadly because a HUGE number of people DON'T know that he's a Bushie!
DownriverDem wrote on January 31, 2008 11:29 AM:Ratsy's right.
And the Dems are highly motivated just like the Reubs were way back when.
Haven't we suffered enough?
McCain is an old man and does not talk the talk. He's seems tired and acts like he expects the election to be handed to him.
twirling fartknocker wrote on January 31, 2008 11:30 AM:Just heard Obama raised $30 million in this month alone. Is it too late? Is the early-primary calendar stacked against his momentum? He's definitely on the rise.
DownriverDem wrote on January 31, 2008 11:31 AM:AGN:
They will know he's a Bushie.
Don't you think the Dems are going to exploit that fact among many others?
Here's one: If you liked the Bush years, you'll love the McCain years!
Jake H. wrote on January 31, 2008 12:51 PM:All of this "McCain will easily beat either Dem in a landslide" talk reads like it's from a time capsule. It's impressive that McCain bounced back from his early slide, but he's just not much of a candidate regardless and he's tied to a party that's sinking like a lead balloon. "Voters are stupid" is a facile line that people reach for when they don't have any facts or arguments to back up their defeatism.
Congressional Repulicans obviously don't seem to believe the outlook is so sunny for their side, seeing as how they're barely stopping to pick up their gold watches on their way to the door...
lokis wrote on January 31, 2008 1:09 PM:McCain is a neo nazi in the proudest tradition of his mentor George Junior - If that is the best we got this is a sad time for Amerika - and on the other side ( actually the same side - the War party) you got Hitlery - this is no choice. We got Obama and Ron Paul - together they meld more hope and sense than these two darlings of MSM. More Neocon BS will bury the nation!!
Power to the Correct People - Karl Marx Rove
JoJo wrote on January 31, 2008 1:16 PM:Sorry little ones but it does not matter who gets in to be the leader of the Republician party. What matters is if the American saps vote Hitlary. Already the zionist media has chosen--Hillary Rodenhurst Clinton. The job is filled no need to apply. For the dumb ones--Job is taken-don't bother voting--now get lost!
Both partys are twins--the same cult that is destorying America within-- Israel firsters.
What is troubling is that McCain and Hitlary have the same Israel agenda--WAR ,More Wars-the draft--More killings, More of the same Anthrax (from Uncle Sam Labs) and thanks to CIA/MOSSAD for 911 bomb attacks
Sorry Gents, if Romney folds, Huck is far behind. This is easier than we thought. Ron Paul will eat McCain alive. The guy has no plan at all. It will be over for the traitor. You watch. This is easier than we thought. McCain wants nothing to do with Paul. He can't compete, unless they stop having debates. Interesting, yes indeed.
Adam Biswanger wrote on January 31, 2008 1:47 PM:CBS is reporting that Romney is planning a "huge ad buy" in California and other Super Tuesday states- Outspending opponents 2:1 doesn't seem to be working- Maybe 3:1 will compensate for his complete absence of convictions and gameshow host personality.
Thumb wrote on January 31, 2008 2:36 PM:Dear Huckabee supporters!
If you want Huckabee to get his far share of news time let your voices be heard. We need to bombard the networks with emails. We believe Huckabee can still win! Stand up for what you believe in and stop letting news decide the candidates!
A place to start:
hannity@foxnews.com
Don’t stop at TV shows, email newspapers, family, friends, and senators too! Go Huckabee!
McCain - Manchurian Candidate
Hank wrote on January 31, 2008 2:43 PM:"Ron Paul will eat McCain alive." - in a fair debate, sure. RP would dismantle any candidate from both parties, for that matter, in a fair debate. but we havent had one yet.
The mainstream media has seen to that. They will only promote a CFR candidate (i.e. all of them except RP).
Me, Id like to have an American president for once.
Ron Paul 2008!
Hank wrote on January 31, 2008 2:46 PM:"McCain - Manchurian Candidate" = true.
Hes also a CFR candidate. Just like Huck. Hucks no more than a willing puppet for the CFR (see his foreign policy advisor). I cant believe there are still people who arent smart enough to see through this charlatan. All these charlatans, for that mater.
Youtube search "cfr nau", and check out the first video.
Ron Paul 2008
