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BOSTON — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has decided to pull his advertising from South Carolina and Florida, in a sign of trouble for a campaign that badly needs a win.
Romney had been hoping to challenge John McCain and Mike Huckabee in South Carolina, and Rudy Giuliani in Florida, where the former New York mayor has been spending time and money.
"We feel the best strategy is to focus our paid messaging in Michigan," Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said Wednesday.
The decision comes on the heels of back-to-back second-place finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire for the former Massachusetts governor. Romney, a multimillionaire who had used some of his own cash, had invested heavily in both states, counting on the two to give him the momentum toward the nomination.
Romney had been spending about $280,000 per week in South Carolina and spent $3 million there last year, according to rival campaigns. In Florida, he had been spending $160,000 per week and had spent $2.5 million in 2007.
Romney won the Wyoming caucuses on Saturday, a contest that drew little attention, and is counting on a win Tuesday in Michigan's primary. Romney was born in the state and his father served it as governor.
Romney said Wednesday that he knew nothing about the rationale for pulling the advertising. He said such decisions were being handled by his media team. But pulling the ads was in keeping with the campaign's recent shift away from paid media toward generating more media coverage in newspapers, on television and on the Internet, especially in Michigan, according to a Romney adviser.
Earlier in the day, Romney assured his top financial backers that he will win Michigan, as he and his staff worked to soothe supporters unsettled by his losses in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary. To that end, 11 staffers from campaign headquarters in Boston flew to Michigan to augment operations there.
"It's just getting started," the presidential contender told hundreds of supporters gathered at a convention center for a follow-up to the "National Call Day" that raised an unprecedented $6.5 million a year ago. Romney's campaign announced that it had raised $1.5 million for the campaign.
He promised to carry on to Michigan, as well as Nevada and South Carolina, which vote Jan. 19.
The public spectacle, a rarity for the normally tightly controlled Romney political operation, included appeals for calm from a top financial backer, eBay CEO Meg Whitman, and a top political supporter, former Sen. Jim Talent of Missouri.
"To a person, we remain incredibly optimistic that we still have a chance to win this thing," Whitman told the crowd, which included everyone from Fortune 500 executives to entrepreneurs.
Spencer Zwick, Romney's national finance director, told the phone bankers: "If for some reason he is not the nominee, all those funds will be returned to the donor himself."
Talent, knocked out of office last fall, compared the unfolding campaign to 1976, when Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan battled for the nomination all the way to the GOP convention.
"This is a transition time, really in both parties, and in transition times, countries need leaders," Talent said. "How well you do today is going to have a significant impact in the next several news cycles of how this campaign is perceived."
___
Associated Press Writer Jim Kuhnhenn reported from South Carolina.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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{"commentId":1346283,"authorDomain":"tschreck"}
well it sure appears that the big dough is behind romney.
"If for some reason he is not the nominee, all those funds will be returned to the donor himself."
it sure will suck for him when he loses and has to pay back money to rich donors..
seems kind of like one of those shister ambulance chasers that promise that you don't have pay them until he collects for you.
every time the mitt moves, i trust him less.
{"commentId":1346283,"threadId":"200438","contentId":"1215433","authorDomain":"tschreck"}
- 1 vote
#1 - Wed Jan 9, 2008 5:58 PM EST{"commentId":1347060,"authorDomain":"TimForMitt"}
How is returning money to donors something that makes you untrusting? That makes no sense.
{"commentId":1347060,"threadId":"200438","contentId":"1215433","authorDomain":"TimForMitt"}
{"commentId":1347166,"authorDomain":"tschreck"}
tim-
judging from your name, you are here as part of a concerted effort to support mitt.. good for you.
the idea that mitt is willing to refund peoples money if he can't deliver the oval office is noble, but it is not really possible is it. unless of course he feels he can make payments from his own fortune.
have you seen the lawyer adverts? you won't pay a dime unless i collect for you!
it has sleeze written all over it.
what he is really doing is trying to convince donors that he is a no risk candidate and that he feels he will be able to insure their investments.. sounds to me like he's saying, invest in me and one way or another, you will be repayed, either from my own money, or from the taxpayer's coffers.
i seriously doubt he'll give anyone back their donations in any real amounts as money spent is exactly that.. spent.
i personally will send a dollar, just to see if i get it back when throws in the towel.
{"commentId":1347166,"threadId":"200438","contentId":"1215433","authorDomain":"tschreck"}
{"commentId":1353571,"authorDomain":"TimForMitt"}
He still made over $5 million in a single day after his "defeat" in New Hampshire, I think theres alot of people with faith in him!
{"commentId":1353571,"threadId":"200438","contentId":"1215433","authorDomain":"TimForMitt"}
{"commentId":1346317,"authorDomain":"johnmcd"}
Romney campaign appears to be giving up too early. Giving up on SC and Florida could drop Romney poll numbers there as his supporters also give up and switch to other candidates leaving him further behind in the next round of polls.
{"commentId":1346317,"threadId":"200438","contentId":"1215433","authorDomain":"johnmcd"}
#2 - Wed Jan 9, 2008 6:10 PM EST{"canLink":false,"threadId":"200438","isPrivate":false}
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