From this morning's Des Moines Register:

"A national Republican committee's spending against Democrat Bruce Braley in Iowa's 1st Congressional District plummeted last week, a review of Federal Election Commission reports shows.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, which had spent an average of $366,192 per week in opposition to Braley since mid-September, spent only $59,524 from Oct. 16 to 23. In addition, the NRCC spent no money on television advertising opposing Braley last week, even though the Nov. 7 general election campaign is entering its final phase."

[...]A review of FEC reports reflecting independent spending by the NRCC and the DCCC against their party's opponents in the two Iowa congressional races also disclosed:

- NRCC spending against Braley last week not only declined 84 percent compared with the average spending over the previous four weeks, but also took place when the Republican committee spent its largest sum of the campaign - $190,489 - on television advertising in opposition to Boswell in Iowa's 3rd District.

[...]- DCCC spending in opposition to Whalen's candidacy has averaged $84,500 over the last six weeks and now totals $595,694 during the period. By comparison, the GOP congressional campaign committee has reported spending a total of $1.5 million against Braley since mid-September."

Now, we know the NRCC is still thinking the IA-03 is competitive, and it likely is more so than the IA-01.  Could this be prioritizing of one race over the other?  The NRCC spokesperson wouldn't comment, which usually isn't a good sign.  If they weren't changing strategy, they'd quickly respond saying they're doing the same thing they've been doing for the past few weeks.  This isn't a good sign for the Whalen Campaign at all.

Looking over the most recent independent expenditure reports (the last 500 can be found here), it looks like the only recent NRCC purchase in the race was on Oct. 23rd -- yesterday -- for phone banks at an investment of $1,535.  That's a pretty meager investment.  I'll try to keep track of the expenditures this week, but things don't look good for Whalen.

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donors and volunteers are valuable, and shouldn't have their time wasted:

three times in the past eight days i've been asked about how a potential volunteer and contributor should budget their time in campaigns within shouting distance of chicago.  this isn't really an easy request.  how you should spend *your* time and money should reflect your priorities, your ideological leanings, and your "vision" for the country.  if you are really concerned about local things, even in so-called red districts, you should spend your time helping to build up your local party organization, regardless of your candidate's chances in the fall.  think strategically, act locally.

meaning, how you spend your time and money doesn't have to be objective.  an exercise like this one does.

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