In this case, however, there’s a credible hypothesis to explain the trend toward Gardner. Whereas a few weeks ago, Udall had a heavy advertising advantage in Colorado, more recent ad placements have been almost even, according to data from Echelon Insights, a Republican analytics and consulting firm. Advertising blasts can sometimes produce temporary bounces in the polls; perhaps Udall had one a few weeks ago.
The troublesome implication for Udall is that race may slightly favor Gardner when ad spending is even.
The silver lining for Udall is that perhaps he’ll be able to regain an advertising advantage when it matters most, in the closing days of the campaign. As of June 30, Udall had $5.7 million in cash on hand compared to Gardner’s $3.4 million, according to the Federal Election Commission.
But those figures are somewhat out of date; the FEC will release new ones next month.
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