by shane goldmacher 10/07/16 03:25 pm edt updated 10/07/16 03:24 pm edt less than five weeks until the election, donald trump has canceled more than $1.6 million in television ads set to air next week in eight crucial battleground states, according to an ad tracking service. the cancellations cover the four biggest states on the battleground map <u+2014> pennsylvania, ohio, florida and north carolina <u+2014> as well as four other states, new hampshire, maine, iowa, and colorado. story continued below jason miller, a senior trump communications adviser, said on twitter: <u+201c>our data-driven campaign is shifting resources from over-performing markets to new battlegrounds w/in the battlegrounds. buy is growing.<u+201d> outsiders were skeptical. <u+201c>this is what the professionals call horseshit,<u+201d> dan pfeiffer, president obama<u+2019>s former communications director, tweeted. by sergio bustos and marc caputo miller described it as an <u+201c>increased media spend<u+201d> that is <u+201c>growing by an extra $1m<u+201d> and that <u+201c>state-by-state levels remain roughly the same.<u+201d> after the initial cancellation, trump did begin to purchase new airtime, including buying ads in wisconsin<u+2019>s milwaukee and madison markets for the first time. that initial buy, for next week, was for just over $70,000. he also bulked up his buy in columbus, ohio. miller did not respond to a request to describe all the places where they were increasing their ad buys. the ad cancellations cover the period that begins next tuesday, and mostly represent smaller markets in the various states. in iowa, for instance, there is no reduction yet in the des moines market, the state<u+2019>s largest, or any cuts in columbus, cincinnati or cleveland in ohio. instead, trump appears to be paring backing in more rural regions, such as the wilkes barre and erie markets in pennsylvania while maintaining his buys in places like philadelphia and pittsburgh. by marc caputo in critical florida, trump is slashing more than $700,000 of his buy next week, reducing his ad reach to only three markets: tampa, orlando and miami, according to a another ad buyer. the single biggest market for cancellation is west palm beach, where trump is pulling more than $216,000 in scheduled ads. the smallest are two markets in ohio, lima and zanesville, where trump, canceled $5,000 in each. trump could still add more money to his buys before they are set to air next tuesday, as his campaign has typically purchased its television time at the last possible moment. by bill scher by thomas wright by joshua zeitz by jack shafer
trump campaign cancels ad buy, promises future expansion - politico
shane goldmacher sergio bustos marc caputo marc caputo jack shafer