By Keegan Gibson, Managing Editor

Larry Medaglia’s campaign has backed out of the four largest local television markets and will not be airing television ads in the final day of the campaign, PoliticsPA has learned. Consultants on both sides of the aisle are reading the writing on the wall.

At its peak, Medaglia’s campaign advertised on WFMZ, two local Comcast markets, and a Target cable market. Over the past week, the campaign has quietly turned down extensions of its advertisements, meaning that some voters haven’t seen Medaglia on TV since Wednesday.

Megadlia’s last day on WFMZ, the local news channel, was Wednesday, March 9th; his ad flight ended on the two local Comcast networks on Friday, March 11th; and his ads ceased on the Target cable network on Sunday, March 13th.

Reading falls within the expensive Philadelphia media market, so neither campaign has purchased ads on broadcast television.

According to sources at several networks, the Medaglia campaign’s decision to pull further TV ads came at the last minute.

PoliticsPA was unable to reach Medaglia’s campaign or a spokesperson for the Senate Republican Campaign Committee (SRCC) for comment. The SRCC had previously paid for Medaglia’s television ads.

Television advertising represents a major part of advertising in any election campaign, especially a special election like this one to replace State Senator Mike O’Pake. Medaglia’s opponent, Democrat Judy Schwank, has ads running on all four networks through election day tomorrow. According to network sources, she has consistently outspent Medaglia on television.

Republicans in Harrisburg are calling the decision a redistribution of campaign funds in the final days of the election.

“We hit over 10,000 doors over the weekend, are planning to hit more today and tomorrow, and are on the ground working very hard to get out Republican voters,” said PA Republican Party Communications Director Valerie Caras.

Indeed, staffers from the state party and the SRCC are on the ground in Berks County working for Medaglia presently.

As of the most recent campaign finance report, which covered up to February 28th, Medaglia had about $16,000 cash on hand. However, it is not unusual in special elections for money to go in and out the door rapidly. Thus, it is impossible to know whether the decision not to continue advertising on television is based on financial constraints until after the election when complete campaign finance reports are submitted.

In any case, the decision is unusual by campaign standards.

Republican media consultants are understandably hesitant to go on the record dismissing their party’s candidate in the race, but the three GOP operatives that PoliticsPA spoke to agreed that it’s a bad sign for Medaglia.

“It says they’ve run out of money or don’t believe spending it that way will make a difference. My bet is they polled last week and it wasn’t close enough to keep funding,” said one consultant with experience placing TV ads for Republican campaigns.

Democrats are more direct. J.J. Balaban is a principal with the Campaign Group, a Democratic-leaning media consulting firm. He’s managed television advertising for numerous campaigns in Pennsylvania, though he is not specifically familiar with this race.

“Speaking generally, it’s almost inconceivable that this is part of some executive plan,” said Balaban. “Given the ability of the state party to come in with unlimited contributions on his behalf, this says they don’t think he has a chance to win. There’s no way this is good news for him.”

Aren Platt, a spokesman for the Democratic State Senate Campaign Committee confirmed that Schwank’s latest poll numbers are very strong.

“We are extremely confident that Judy is heading for victory tomorrow,” said Platt. “Our polling has shown, as I suspect theirs has as well, that Judy is well known and well liked, and that Mr. Medaglia’s message just hasn’t caught on.”