迈克尔·沃特利在北卡罗来纳州的竞选活动暂时陷入沉寂。这位共和党参议院候选人目前没有在该竞选中预订未来的线性电视广告时段，距离大选日不足三周之际做出这一举动极不寻常，而该州一度被视为共和党的首要目标。据广告追踪公司 AdImpact 数据，沃特利最后一条广播电视广告是在一周前播出的。此次暂停播出发生之际，共和党及主要外部共和党团体（包括参议院领袖基金）正在从该州撤资，这等于承认在 11 月击败民主党候选人罗伊·库珀极具难度。
Michael Whatley’s campaign has temporarily gone dark in North Carolina. The Republican Senate nominee does not currently have future linear TV ad reservations booked in the race, a highly unusual move less than three weeks before Election Day in a state that was once considered a top GOP priority. Whatley’s last broadcast TV ad aired one week ago, according to tracking firm AdImpact. The pause comes as Republicans and major outside GOP groups, including Senate Leadership Fund, disinvest from the state in an acknowledgement of the difficulty of beating Democratic nominee Roy Cooper in November.
“这只是暂时性的停播，我们将很快带着收官信息重返荧屏，该信息可能会也可能不会质问选民：为什么我们的高龄对手拒绝回答关于其健康状况和在联邦参议院履职能力的基本问题，”沃特利发言人 DJ·格里芬在一份声明中表示。“我们有信心拥有赢得唯一重要民意调查——11 月大选日——所需的资源。”相比之下，前民主党州长罗伊·库珀的竞选团队拥有 740 万美元未来电视广告预订，外部团体另有 1120 万美元；共和党外部团体仅预订了 470 万美元，根据 AdImpact 数据分析，民主党在未来电视广告支出上拥有近 4 比 1 的优势。
“It’s a temporary pause and we’ll be back on the air shortly with our closing message that may or may not ask voters why does our elderly opponent refuse to answer basic questions about his health and ability to serve in the U.S. Senate,” Whatley spokesperson DJ Griffin said in a statement. “We are confident we have the resources needed to win the only poll that matters — Election Day in November.”Former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s campaign, by contrast, has $7.4 million in future TV ad reservations, in addition to $11.2 million from outside groups.
沃特利竞选团队的这一举动在大选如此临近之时实属罕见，通常候选人会在选民开始投票的这一阶段加大广告投放力度。“这对共和党来说一直是个难守的席位，”资深共和党策略师、北卡罗来纳州人道格·海耶表示。“特朗普的民调数字一落千丈，而库珀是位优秀的候选人，曾赢得全州选举。”
Republican outside groups have just $4.7 million reserved, giving Democrats a nearly 4 to 1 advantage in future TV ad spending, according to an analysis of AdImpact data. The move by Whatley’s campaign is rare this close to the election, a period when candidates typically ramp up their advertising as voters begin casting ballots. “It was always going to be a tough seat for Rs to hold,” said Doug Heye, a longtime GOP strategist who is from North Carolina.
这正是一直以来必然会发生的事情。”库珀在公开民意调查和候选人募捐方面一直领先于惠特利，在竞选的最后阶段，他成为明显的领先者，而惠特利是前共和党全国委员会主席，也是唐纳德·特朗普总统亲自挑选的候选人。库珀的发言人强烈驳斥了惠特利竞选团队对这位民主党人健康状况的描述：“这些都是绝望候选人编造的更多谎言，”凯特·斯马特在一份声明中表示。
“Trump’s numbers are in the tank and Cooper is a good candidate who has won statewide. This is what was always going to happen.”Cooper, who has repeatedly led Whatley in public polling and candidate fundraising, enters the final stretch of the campaign as the clear frontrunner over Whatley, a former chair of the Republican National Committee and the handpicked candidate of President Donald Trump. A spokesperson for Cooper sharply refuted the Whatley campaign’s characterizations about the Democrat’s health: “These are more desperate lies from a desperate candidate,” Kate Smart said in a statement.
“罗伊·库珀在此次竞选期间已经举办了350多场活动，身体状况极佳，显然能够完成全任期。”北卡罗来纳州的主要外部团体双方已经开始撤退。与共和党结盟的参议院领导基金本月早些时候暂停了在该州的支出，而其他共和党团体，包括老北方行动，也已撤回。民主党人对库珀翻转该席位的机会越来越乐观——这是该党赢回参议院所需的四个席位之一，前提是它能够捍卫所有现有席位。
“Roy Cooper has held over 350 events over the course of this campaign, is in excellent health and will obviously serve his full term.”Major outside groups on both sides have already begun retreating from North Carolina. The GOP-aligned Senate Leadership Fund paused its spending in the state earlier this month, while other Republican groups, including Old North Action, have also pulled back. Democrats are increasingly bullish on Cooper’s chances of flipping the seat — one of four pickups the party needs to win back the Senate, assuming it defends all of its current seats.
与民主党结盟的参议院多数派政治行动委员会也开始在北卡罗来纳州暂停支出，越来越多地将注意力转向资助其他竞争激烈的参议院选举。
The Democratic-aligned Senate Majority PAC has also started pausing its spending in North Carolina, increasingly turning their attention to fund other, competitive Senate races.