Strickland cancels ads in Ohio Senate race

Former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland is canceling a portion of his television ad buys across the state Friday, shortly after other Democratic groups began to pull ads backing his Senate campaign.

Strickland’s campaign is scrapping ad buys in Cincinnati, Dayton, Toledo and Youngstown over the next two weeks, according to two sources tracking ad buys. It’s unclear how much money the campaign plans to withdraw, but a source tells The Hill the campaign had about $550,000 devoted to those markets over the time span.

{mosads}Strickland is challenging incumbent Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio). The seat was thought to be a potential pickup for the Democrats, but Portman leads by about 7 points, according to a RealClearPolitics polling average.

David Bergstein, a Strickland campaign spokesman, said that the campaign is just shifting its resources into other markets.

“We are spending the same amount of money as we planned to over the next two weeks,” he said. “Just like all campaigns, we shift resources into different media markets throughout the race.” 

The cancelations don’t include Cleveland and Columbus, the two largest markets in the state, which both lean blue. An increased investment there could be used in the hopes of boosting turnout in large Democratic pockets. 

The reallocation of resources comes just a week after the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee pulled millions of dollars in ad time. That signal allowed the Koch Network, backing Portman, to scrap plans to advertise in that race too. 

The Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Report shifted its rating of the race to “leans Republican” this week in response to the most recent developments.