2008 Elections

Wednesday, Oct 15, 2008 10:35 PDT

Republicans giving up on Wisconsin?

The independent arm of the Republican National Committee that handles ad buys has reportedly not booked airtime in the state for the next week.

By Alex Koppelman

A report from a Web site devoted to Wisconsin politics suggests that Republicans may have given up on efforts to try to win that state for John McCain.

WisPolitics.com reports that the independent arm of the Republican National Committee that handles its ad buys hasn't purchased any airtime in Wisconsin for the upcoming week. "Sources at Wisconsin TV stations in Eau Claire, Green Bay and Milwaukee said the RNC's latest buy ended Tuesday and no new purchases had been made for the week of Oct. 15-21. McCain’s campaign has TV buys in Wisconsin at least through Sunday," the site says. It also quotes an unnamed source at a Milwaukee station as saying he expected a buy and was "shocked" not to see one.

John Kerry won the state by just 12,000 votes -- or 1 percentage point -- in 2004, so it had been targeted as a potential pickup for McCain. But recent polls have shown Barack Obama with a double-digit lead there.