Pro-Republican groups and activists insist their decision reflects financial triage rather than any antagonism toward the Tea Party or O’Donnell, who trails Democratic opponent Chris Coons by 10 to 15 percentage points in polls. In fact, establishment Republicans and powerful conservative groups that are officially “independent” are providing significant support to other Senate candidates identified with the Tea Party movement — including Pat Toomey, whose campaign in neighboring Pennsylvania presents a striking contrast to O’Donnell’s…

“Were American Crossroads to invest there (in Delaware), they could not invest in Colorado, where the polls are within the margin of error,” Collegio told Reuters. He said that if O’Donnell’s poll numbers improve markedly in the last days of the campaign, it is possible Crossroads could reassess its position. “But at the moment, spending money there would mean not spending money in races which are legitimately competitive,” he said.

The business world appears to share that sentiment. An official of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the national pro-business group that is investing heavily in political advertising during the current mid-term campaign, said the Chamber has not sponsored independent advertising in support of O’Donnell and was not planning to do so.