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Evansville Courier & Press

By THOMAS B. LANGHORNE, Courier & Press staff writer 464-7432 or langhornet@courierpress.com

National Democrats have canceled at least $110,000 worth of reserved television advertising in the 8th Congressional District race -- about 9 percent of their total investment here.

At the same time, national Republicans have dramatically stepped up their reservations for TV ad time in the Evansville and Terre Haute media markets, placing several orders that area TV stations were still processing Wednesday afternoon.

A Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokeswoman said the cut in spending on behalf of Brad Ellsworth's campaign should not be interpreted as a lack of confidence in Ellsworth.

The Democratic committee had just shy of $1.5 million in TV ad buys and reserved ad time on Ellsworth's behalf before the cancellations. The figure is still at least $1.3 million.

"Brad Ellsworth is an outstanding candidate, and the Indiana 8th District is one of our best opportunities to pick up a seat (in the U.S. House of Representatives)," Democratic spokeswoman Adrienne Elrod said.

Elrod declined to comment further on the ad cancellations.

Jay Howser, Ellsworth's campaign manager, said the cancellations are "not a big deal."

"It's a very common practice on both sides," Howser said. "This is the first race in the country that (the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee) bought media time in.

"They're just doing a reconfiguration of their media buying schedule. They're confident in our campaign."

The campaign of Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind., had no comment on the Democratic ad cancellations.

Ed Patru, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, also declined comment.

Local TV advertising sellers reported Wednesday that the GOP committee had placed several buys for reserved air time earlier in the day -- buys totalling at least $426,000 through Election Day.

Through the first week of August, the Republicans had spent about $173,000 on TV advertising on Hostettler's behalf.

Patru also declined to comment on the National Republican Congressional Committee's new buys.

Linda Lender, national sales manager for 14WFIE-NBC, said it is not unusual for political buyers to cancel reserved ad time, for which most stations do not require payment until a week before airing.

"I'm guessing (the Democrats) are moving money around, that there are other (media) markets they want to spend the money in," Lender said.

Lender said the Democrats cancelled $45,000 in reserved ad time with her station. She said the ads would have run from Aug. 22 until Sept. 11.

"It's not that unusual for (party committees and campaigns) to place a buy and, when they get a better picture of where they want to spend their money, they might move it around," she said. "It wouldn't surprise me to get a call from (the Democrats) a week from now saying they want to spend more money.

"It'll be a work in progress until Election Day."

Other televisions stations in the district, including WEVV-CBS44 and WTVW-Fox7, reported canceled ads as well.

The Democrats' expenditures on Ellsworth's behalf are about twice what the candidate himself had on hand as of the July 15 federal campaign finance reporting deadline.

In 2004, the Democrats spent only about $70,000 -- none of it on TV advertising -- in the 8th District. The Republicans spent $652,000 on Hostettler's behalf.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee acknowledges having reserved $50 million in media markets nationwide in an effort to wrest control of the House of Representatives from Republicans.

Democrats need a turnover of just 15 seats in the 435-member House to take control of that chamber for the first time since 1994.

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