“President Donald Trump’s campaign has canceled $4.5 million in ad buys in key battleground states this week, raising more signs of trouble for his re-election effort, even as Democratic nominee Joe Biden expands his advertising footprint. Faced with a shrinking cash balance, Trump has pulled back on television ads in all but three states where the race is close: Arizona, Florida and Georgia. And his ads have disappeared from must-win states like Ohio and Iowa, where he and Biden are essentially tied” Bloomberg reports.
“Biden is taking advantage of Trump’s retrenchment by widening the map, pouring $16 million more into 13 battleground states and districts as he seeks to create multiple paths to the magic number of 270 electoral votes that would put him in the White House. With 40 days left until the election, the presidential campaign is focused intensely on a dozen battleground states where the race is close. Biden leads in national polls, but the winner needs to prevail in the industrial Midwest as well as new battlegrounds like North Carolina and Arizona to achieve an Electoral College victory. And neither wins without Florida. To make up for its constrained ad budget, the Trump campaign is relying on local news coverage from campaign rallies and visits from key surrogates, according to three campaign officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal strategy.”