Virginia Republican Ed Gillespie to stop running campaign ads
Republican US Senate candidate, Ed Gillespie, speaks to the media after his final debate with US Sen. Mark Warner in Richmond, Va., Monday, Oct. 13, 2014. The two face each other in the November 4th election. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) Steve Helber, AP
RICHMOND, Va. -- Ed Gillespie, one of the Republican establishment's most respected advisers and powerful fundraisers, badly trails in the race for campaign cash and has asked television stations to stop running his ads for Senate with just three weeks left before Election Day.
Reports filed with the Federal Communications Commission show Gillespie's campaign cancelling or drastically reducing the amount of money it plans to spend on television ads in coming days. At the same time, political operatives who track television advertising said Thursday that Gillespie does not have ads reserved in the final push toward the Nov. 4 elections.
The financial struggles of Gillespie's campaign are something of a surprise. He was the Republican National Committee chairman, served in President George W. Bush's administration as a top adviser and was a top lieutenant to 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
That pedigree, however, has not translated to extraordinary fundraising. And that has left Gillespie at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to advertising.
Following a report by The Associated Press about the drop-off in advertising, the Gillespie campaign said Thursday it would launch new rounds of TV ads on Saturday - but it did not specify when or where the ads would run, or at what cost. The campaign also announced it had banked $2 million for the final push to Election Day.
Play Video
CBS News Battleground Tracker projects that if elections were held today, Republicans would take the Senate, 51 seats to 49. GOP control could de...
Play Video
The sequester is just four days away and Senator Mark Warner doesn't understand why the GOP would say they don't want any last minute deals. He t...
Original post:
Virginia Republican Ed Gillespie to stop running campaign ads