Didn't the Dems do the same thing in 2006 and 2008? Did it help them bring in more seats?
Personally, I doubt that any amount of money could significantly shift the outcome on a macro scale in the last ten days. Early voting is already going on, and you can only polish crap candidates so much. It might swing a few races, but I'm really skeptical that these last-minute multi-million dollar expenditures actually do much other than firm up the races that are already shakily leaning towards them.
Remember - not every state has early voting, particularly in the Northeast. It's more of a Western and Southern phenomenon. Expenditures in areas without early voting could go further. Voters in those areas don't need to make our minds up until election day, unless they vote for-cause-absentee.
Do swing voters tend to do early voting anyway, or is it primarily used by people who are strong partisans, and have already made up their mind well in advance.....in which case what happens in the final week of the campaign wouldn't have changed their mind anyway?
I don't know. Never seen any kind of analysis of this, whether early voting actually makes any difference to the results.
