Ohio 1: DCCC Cancels Driehaus Ads

by Stuart Rothenberg October 11, 2010 · 11:54 AM EDT

Media sources in the Cincinnati media market confirmed to the Rothenberg Political Report this morning that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has cancelled its media buys after this week.

The market covers the highly competitive Ohio 1st District, where incumbent Steve Driehaus (D) is in an uphill bid against GOP challenger Steve Chabot (R).

The DCCC has cancelled all of its reserved time at WKRC, the CBS affiliate in the market, for the weeks of October 19 and October 26. The Committee pulled over $200,000 worth of reserved time. The Committee also cancelled its time (over $75,000 worth of time) for those two weeks at WLWT, the NBC affiliate.

The DCCC has a very light buy on WKRC and WLWT this week. But it is difficult to read the cancellations as anything other than the Committee’s decision to write off the Driehaus race. The DCCC could reverse course and re-purchase the time, of course, but it would then pay a higher rate.

Other Democrats could face the same fate in the next 24 hours, since the deadline for cancelling reserved time is fast approaching.