Opinion: Shifting weekend polls prompt sudden pro-Clinton Texas ad buy
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Perhaps as a sign of some shifting political sands spotted in the last 24 hours from internal polling by the Clinton and Obama campaigns, especially in Texas, an independent political group suddenly decided to pour about $650,000 in new advertising into supporting the New York senator today.
The American Leadership Project, which is primarily funded by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union, had appeared stalled in its pro-Clinton effort by the threat of an Obama lawsuit.
But Roger Salazar, who oversees the independent group, confirmed to The Times’ Dan Morain this afternoon that the group had....
purchased $500,000 of last-minute advertising in Texas and another $150,000 in Ohio.
Meanwhile, sources in Barack Obama’s campaign indicated to Morain that they were possibly ceding Ohio to Hillary Clinton and would focus all their efforts in the campaign’s closing hours on Texas, where the race is close. Other Obama sources also changed their line from predicting victory to saying that Clinton would have to win both states by double-digits in order to claim victory.
Clinton finished her Ohio campaigning earlier today and flew to Texas for the remainder of her effort before Tuesday’s voting. Even with the sudden infusion of funds, the Clinton forces are running behind Obama’s in Texas advertising.
On Friday alone, according to labor union sources, they spent nearly $2.3 million on behalf of Obama, with the bulk of it paying for television ads in Texas and Ohio. The Service Employees International Union led the effort, spending $1.8 million to help Obama win the March 4 primaries. Other groups backing Clinton spent less than $100,000 on Friday.
But some weekend polling is said to have indicated a shift toward Clinton in Ohio and a very close race in Texas.
As if to confirm speculation we published here Saturday about Texas Republicans, without a serious contest in their own party, quietly crossing over to vote for Clinton tomorrow and prolong the Democratic struggle, conservative broadcasters Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly talked at length about that possibility on their programs today. They seemed to think it would be a good idea for their listeners in the Lone Star state.
(UPDATE: O’Reilly, another in the growing ranks of loyal Ticket readers, has sent clarification that while he did indeed discuss Texas Republican voters crossing over on his popular show, he did not openly advocate such activity, as Limbaugh did. Thanks for that.)
Such efforts at political mischief are difficult to mobilize at the last-minute, but if the polls are accurate, it wouldn’t take many to make the difference for Clinton.
--Andrew Malcolm