With Texas Gov. Rick Perry languishing in the polls and former pizza mogul Herman Cain immersed in a sexual harassment scandal, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is biding his time and saving his cash.
At this point four years ago, Bloomberg reports Romney had spent $11 million on television ads. But now, with the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary fast approaching, Romney has yet to spend any campaign money on commercials.
“We’ve all been waiting for when Romney is going to start airing [ads], and you would have expected to start to see some sustained level of advertising by now,” Ken Goldstein, the president of a New York-based firm that tracks political advertising, told Bloomberg. According to Goldstein, “every day that the news cycle is consumed by something else is a day [Romney] doesn’t have to advertise.”
While Romney waits, Perry has been buying up radio and TV time in Iowa and New Hampshire. His campaign reported $17 million in the bank as of September 30, the most of any candidate, and has spent what aides call a “significant” amount as he tries to get his message across to primary voters in early states.
Republican strategists say Romney, who had $14.7 million in the bank as of September 30, is ramping up his campaign at a slower pace, particularly in New Hampshire. Romney owns a home in the Granite State and is well known to voters, two factors that may prove to be crucial in the January 10 primary.
“Romney’s been here before, he has 100 percent name ID among the Republican constituents, and he can wait,” Bill Binnie, a former Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, told Bloomberg. “Time is on his side. He’s essentially running out the clock, and the longer this goes, the better for him.”