Congressional candidates give TV viewers a break

If you hate the barrage of political TV ads lately, don’t blame your Central Florida member of Congress.

Records show that none of them — nor any of their opponents — has spent a dime on TV commercials this year. It’s another sign that all five Orlandoarea U.S. House seats are safe.

“All of the incumbents think they have slam- dunks,” said Lew Oliver, chairman of the Orange County Republican Party.

In 2012, Democrats Alan Grayson and Val Demings of Orlando and Republicans John Mica of Winter Park and Sandy Adams of Oviedo combined to buy hundreds of TV spots. Grayson beat Republican Todd Long.

Mica beat Adams in a primary, and Demings lost to U.S. Rep. Daniel Webster of Winter Garden.

This time, Grayson, who records show had $4 0 0,0 0 0 in campaign cash handy at the end of September, has not purchased any TV in his reelection attempt in District 9 against Republican Carol Platt.

“We’ve got a positive [TV commercial] spot if our polling says that it is necessary, but when Rick Scott decides he’s going to buy all the airwaves, everyone else is driven out of the market,” said David Damron, Grayson’s campaign spokesman.

Mica’s Democratic opponent in District 8, Wes Neuman, has essentially dropped out, suspending his campaign in August, leaving Mica with no need to spend much of the $450,000 he had left in September.

We b s t e r, running against Democrat Michael McKenna in District 10 this time; U.S. Rep. Bill Po s e y , R- Ro c k l e d g e, in District 8; and U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D -Jacksonville, in District 5; have not bought any TV time this year or the last time they ran.

And none of their opponents had much money heading into October. So an Orlando TV buy — which typically runs tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars for a week’s worth of commercials — does not fit into any of their budgets.

“Only the incumbents have the bankroll for that,” Posey’s Democratic challenger Gabriel Rothblatt said. “None of us challenge r s h av e been banking enough cash for TV.”

“Our campaign is a true grass-roots campaign — that is door-to-door and phone calling,” said Cassie Smith, campaign manager for Republican Glo Smith, who is running against Brown. “Our funds are limited, so TV buys are not an option right now.”

Though the campaigns still have time to purchase TV time for the last week of the campaign, such laterunning ads could be counterproductive, some say.

“At this point, voters have essentially tuned out on these ads from all sides, because they have been on such overload for several m o n t h s ,” said Carlos Smith, chairman of the Orange County Democratic Party.