Tuesday, October 27, 2009

HORSERACE

Deeds Is Done

The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza offers us perhaps the clearest sign that the Virginia governor's race is effectively over, and now it's just a question of the size of Bob McDonnell's victory:

State Sen. Creigh Deeds (D) is spending just over $400,000 on ads in the final week of his campaign for Virginia governor, according to sources familiar with the buy, a massive cutback from his disbursements on television over past weeks. Rumors that Deeds was struggling with cash flow have been rampant in recent days, and the $700,000 reduction in ad spending between last week and this one is a sure sign that things are not going well for the Democrat. According to a source familiar with the Deeds ad buy, the Democrat is only running 400 gross ratings points in the Washington, D.C. media market — meaning that the average viewer will only see a Deeds ad four times in a week. (Typically campaigns like to close with 2,000 or so points on TV in a key market like Washington.)

Meanwhile, in the same Cillizza column:

The Democratic Governors Association is moving to shore up embattled Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter — helping to finance new television ads in the state that tout the incumbent's accomplishments including attracting a wind turbine factory to the state.

I wonder how Virginia Democrats feel about the DGA spending money on ads for a guy who's not up for reelection until next year, while their guy has to cut back on television ads dramatically . . .

10/27 11:29 AMShare