The Democratic exodus from Ohio continues. Last week, when both the DSCC and the Senate Majority PAC cancelled upwards of $2 million in fall TV ad reservations in the Buckeye State, we noted that they still had many millions left. Now they have fewer still. On Friday afternoon, the Washington Post reported that the DSCC was cancelling an additional $1.5 million booked on Democrat Ted Strickland's behalf, over and above the $500,000 it had dropped a week earlier.
Then on Tuesday, the Senate Majority PAC followed suit, confirming that it had cancelled $3 million worth of September ads; last week, the group withdrew $1.7 million from the race. SMP said that it still has time reserved from Oct. 11 through Election Day, but that could of course change.
Back in the spring, the DSCC and SMP announced a combined $19.5 million in Ohio reservations; by our back-of-the-envelope math, they've since cancelled $6.7 million, leaving them with $12.8 million. Perhaps the most interesting question now is where this money—plus another $5 million no longer needed in Colorado—will head instead. If Democrats are looking to bring additional races online, the most promising options would be in North Carolina, Arizona, and Missouri. If instead they want to try shoring up existing tossups, then they'd look to Pennsylvania, Florida, New Hampshire, or Nevada.
Part of this decision-making process will, of course, involve seeing what Republicans do with the resources they've freed up from Ohio, as GOP groups have made seven-figure cancellations of their own here. But we'll be watching carefully to see what happens next.