The Obama campaign has increased its ad buys in the final week of the presidential race to $28 million, and may spend more, in an effort counter Gov. Mitt Romney’s push to expand his electoral map, according to
Business Week.
Both campaigns are now spending money in Minnesota, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, states thought to be solidly in the Obama column that Romney’s campaign now believes he could take.
"With one week to go, and 96 percent of the vote on the table on Election Day in Pennsylvania, this expansion of the electoral map demonstrates that Gov. Romney’s momentum has jumped containment from the usual target states and has spread to deeper blue states that Chicago never anticipated defending," said Romney campaign political director Rich Beeson.
The Romney campaign itself has invested $17.2 million in TV ads for the days leading up to Tuesday’s election, and will likely spend more as well, but two outside groups, Restore Our Future and American Crossroads, already have more than $37 million spread through states they think the Republican challenger can take, reported Businessweek.
Priorities USA Action, a liberal SuperPAC, is backing up President Barack Obama’s campaign with an additional $9.5 million in ad buys for the next seven days.
According to NBC, Obama spent $1.3 million in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh after the two conservative SuperPACs bought $2.4 million of TV time. Pennsylvania has not elected a Republican president since 1988, and the Real Clear Politics poll average shows that Obama retains a lead there of nearly 5 points.
Similar buying wars are taking place in Michigan and Minnesota, states Obama has been counting on as part of his electoral firewall if he loses in Ohio — where polls have continued to tighten and the campaigns have spent a combined $12 million.
“Restore Our Future went up with a $2 million buy in Michigan,” an unnamed Obama aide told Time Magazine. “We’re matching states where they go up. We’re not going to let them make a play anywhere.”
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