Here is a link to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. They have an article which gives a detailed description on the Senate race between Feingold and Michels. This is my first diary, so be gentle in your criticism.
Here is the link: http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/oct04/266493.asp
Here is a brief snipet
In a blow to the campaign of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tim Michels, a national GOP group has canceled more than $1.2 million in television advertising that was set to run on his behalf in the coming weeks.
At this current time, we are not putting the money behind the time we had reserved," said Dan Allen, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
"I think we're assessing the playing field on a day-to-day basis from state to state and we feel like we have a lot of opportunities, including Wisconsin," he said. "We also know we have limited resources."
The Republicans control the Senate by only a single seat and are locked in tough races in Oklahoma, Alaska and Colorado, and are expected to lose a seat in Illinois.
But last month, party leaders said they were going to try their lot in Wisconsin in the bid to unseat two-term incumbent Russ Feingold, a Democrat. They said Feingold was vulnerable because of his votes against the USA Patriot Act and the war in Iraq.
With much fanfare, U.S. Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), the NRSC head, and Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican National Committee, pledged that "significant resources" would be brought to bear to help Michels.
Michels is a decorated Army veteran and a construction executive living in Oconomowoc who strongly supports President Bush.
Feingold has amassed a massive campaign war chest, and Michels, who has given his campaign more than $1.6 million of his own money, has welcomed any outside help. Michels has made fund-raising trips to Washington, D.C., and his campaign has collected thousands of dollars from GOP political action committees.
Last month, the Feingold campaign held a news conference to announce that the NRSC had reserved more than $1.23 million in independent ad buys, a figure that Dan Allen did not dispute.
Others saw the move by the committee as a sign of weakness for Michels, who has consistently trailed Feingold in polls conducted for the news media.
"They talk the talk, but they don't walk the walk," said John Kraus, Feingold's campaign spokesman.
"What this probably means is that their assessment of the race is that it's not competitive and that they're going to deploy their money someplace else," said Ken Mayer, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor. "It's quite likely that they've seen internal polling data and information that's not publicly available."
"It's certainly a big hit for Michels," said Andrew Barrett, a Marquette University political science professor.
