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Democratic Party Cutting Support For Strickland Campaign?

Statehouse News Bureau
Ted Strickland, left, and Rob Portman

The Democratic Party’s national Senate campaign has pulled back $500,000 in planned TV ad spending to support former Gov. Ted Strickland in his race against incumbent Republican Rob Portman. But Strickland’s campaign says don’t read too much into that.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee was planning on a nine-day ad buy in Ohio starting September 13. But Strickland campaign spokesman David Bergstein says this is a strategic move, and that the committee is funding a current Strickland ad.

“The DSCC is spending the same amount of money they were slated to spend. It’s just being used to fund our existing ad instead of through an independent expenditure,” Bergstein says.

The DSCC says in a statement that it’s proud to support Strickland’s campaign.

Polls have shown Strickland’s early lead on Portman has evaporated, and there’s still a wide fundraising gap between the two candidates.