In case you missed it, here’s a snapshot of Strickland’s coverage this holiday weekend, starting with earning the honor of “Worst Week in Washington.”
“The former governor began his race against Portman more than a year ago with a clear, single digit polling edge. But as the election has neared — and millions of dollars has been spent by a conservative super PAC excoriating Strickland for his record on jobs and taxes during his one term as governor – the Democrat’s poll numbers have taken a nosedive…And now, this. Without the support on the airwaves he badly needs, it’s hard to see how Strickland comes back. That’s a seat many Democrats thought would be part of the party’s majority come 2017. Now Democrats are going to have to look elsewhere.”
“The Senate Democrats’ campaign wing has canceled an additional two weeks of TV ads on behalf of Ted Strickland this month, giving further evidence that national Democrats are giving up on his campaign’s chances. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s decision to scrap an ad buy of approximately $1.5 million, first reported by the Washington Post, comes after the group canceled $500,000 worth of ads in Ohio between Sept. 13 and Sept. 22.”
“The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has canceled another two weeks of ad reservations made on behalf of former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, who has struggled to build momentum in his campaign to unseat Portman. The decision comes just days after the DSCC and a leading Democratic super PAC both scaled back spending plans in a race that had been expected to be among the most competitive of the cycle.”
“In another major setback for the Senate campaign of Democrat Ted Strickland, a Senate Democratic campaign committee Friday canceled two more weeks of TV commercials that had been scheduled to air on behalf of Strickland this month.”
“…Democrats are cutting back millions of dollars in TV reservations that were supposed to back Democrat Ted Strickland, thinking he might not be worth the expense anymore. Strickland, the former governor whose high popularity held promise a year ago, might be the most disappointing candidate of 2016…”
“The number of political ads set to air across Ohio just decreased, dramatically…On Friday, the Washington Post reported national Democrats signaled even less confidence in the race as the Senate Majority PAC and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, or DSCC, canceled another round of ads set to air Sept. 13.”
“Strickland is slipping in the polls, and Democratic campaign groups have begun to yank their spending from the race, moving to other states. Democratic operatives who were willing to talk about the campaign on background said it came down to a few simple reasons, with the biggest being that Strickland has simply failed to raise the money needed to keep up in a state that has a dozen media markets. According to federal election reports tallied by the Center for Responsive Politics, as of June, Portman had out-raised Strickland $21 million to $7 million.”
“And now the national Democratic groups Strickland is counting on for television air cover appear to be losing interest. Money is the root of many of the Strickland campaign’s troubles, writes cleveland.com’s Jeremy Pelzer…Strickland is 75…even Strickland allies are quietly acknowledging that he is struggling to rise to the challenges of a modern campaign. Strickland tends to underestimate the impact that gaffes have in a faster-moving news cycle. And he does not like to be handled. As a former governor, he believes that he already has reached the pinnacle in professional politics and can be too proud or too stubborn to take advice from less-experienced but well-intentioned staff.”