REVISED: Is the NRCC ditching Jon Porter? Not so fast

U.S. Rep. Jon PorterThe National Republican Congressional Committee has no clear plans on dramatically scaling back its advertising for U.S. Rep. Jon Porter, as Democrats had hoped.

Earlier this week, journalist Jon Ralston wrote ominously that the committee was appearing to scale back on its advertising plans for Porter, a third term incumbent who is facing a difficult re-election bid against Democratic state Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus.

"That can't be good," Ralston wrote.

But conversations with broadcast television stations in the Las Vegas-area district suggest that Democrats might not want to get too excited just yet. The NRCC still has plans to advocate for Porter.

The local CBS affiliate KLAS said the NRCC canceled advertising time from Sept. 30 - Oct. 6, but kept its reservations for Oct. 7 - Nov. 4. The station declined to provide details on the size of the reservation. ABC affiliate KTNV said the committee had maintained over $100,000 in advertising time in the month leading up to the election. Fox affiliate KVVU will air about $70,000 of NRCC advertisements, with the bulk of the buy coming in the last week of the race. NBC affiliate KVBC declined to comment on ad reservations made on the station.

The NRCC announced in August that it would spend $590,000 on Porter's behalf in the contest, and the possibility this week that the NRCC was drawing back sent Democrats into celebration mode.

"Clearly the NRCC is losing faith in Jon Porter as Dina Titus' campaign continues to gain momentum and her message of change resonates with voters in the Third District," Titus campaign spokesman Andrew Stoddard said late Tuesday.

Though given the small scale of the actual drawback, Democrats may not be as thrilled as they hoped.

Porter has a fundraising advantage heading into the final stretch of the campaign. Through Jul. 23, the Republican had $650,000 more in his bank account than Titus did. But with Democratic voter registrants now out-numbering Republicans, Porter could use the added cushion of the NRCC.

"We have no doubt that we will be able to communicate our message throughout the course of the campaign. Any amount the NRCC lends to our efforts only enhances our message and we are grateful that they have the confidence to invest in our race," said Porter campaign spokesman Matt Leffingwell.

Tim Sahd, who edits the Washington newsletter House Race Hotline, said he thought it was unlikely the NRCC was abandoning the race, and he noted that ad reservations were fluid in nature.

"I doubt any 'scaling back' means Republicans are giving up on this race. People readjust their buys all the time," Sahd said in an e-mail. "But I doubt it's because they're giving up already."

A spokesperson for the NRCC declined to discuss the committee's ad buys in the district, citing a policy of not commenting on strategy.