Romney making a mega buy in PA.

[jmc247]

Apparently, he isn't investing in the Pittsburgh market.

He isn't, but his SuperPAC I suspect might invest in the Pittsburgh market. The kind of hard core negative ads he has run in the past against his GOP rivals I think he is trying to move away from as he tries to unite the party and start his general election campaign.

But, his SuperPAC is still running much more negative ads and negative ads are great for lowering overall turnout in an area that might be strong for your rival.

[jmc247]

Nothing seems to turn on the statewide vote, so it is all about picking off individual CD's when it comes to delegates. And probably there are more swing voters outside western, PA then inside anyway.  As a wild guess, the Lehigh Valley and the York/Harrisburg area are homes to the closest CD's.

I think its more about the public and media perception of beating Santorum in his own home state. If Romney wins the popular vote there he will be where Newt currently is very quickly unless he drops out.

[jmc247]

Romney has had second thoughts and by second thoughts I mean he has decided to increase his ad buy by over a million dollars and go on the air in Pittsburg.

The ad bombardment of the state at this point follows the "nuke the site from orbit, it's the only way to make sure" philosophy of campaigning.

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[jmc247]

Romney should have at least waited a week or so and only then start this mega-ad-buy, if he has any courage, because Santorum is off the campaign trail and only concerned about his daughter. Romney is like someone trying to kill someone unarmed by shooting him in the back.

He decided to take the weekend off for Easter. The ad buy happened before anything was announced about his daugher and it was almost certainly planned out much before then.

[jmc247]

Romney will win Pennsylvania's delegates no matter what. As Phil has repeatedly explained he has the backing of the machine which essentially chooses them.
The primary is nothing more than a beauty contest.

Romney can't get Santorum out of the race without a big victory in Texas or Pennsylvania. It's not about delegates at this point. Romney will get the magic number. It's about getting him to lose hope and get out ASAP which Romney needs to happen to start a full general election campaign. He can't ignore Santorum when he is calling him Mr. Etch a Sketch and attacking him at every turn. This isn't a Huckabee situation where Huck decided to stay in the race and run a positive campaign which didn't hurt McCain.

Romney needs to finish the GOP race quickly which he can do if he wins in Pennsylvania.

[jmc247]

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As I thought it isn't about the delegates. It's about beating Santorum in such a way that he is no longer taken seriously as a candidate if he continues on.

I also think team Romney is testing the effectiveness of ad bombing a major media market as a dry run before facing Obama.