When Romney changed his schedule to mostly skip South Carolina’s GOP primary this Saturday — and instead compete for the gold in ice dancing in Nevada — it was widely interpreted as basically conceding the race to the two Southerners and war hero all running strong in that state. Last week, before the Michigan primary, he also pulled his ads off the air in SC. Expectations: Officially very, very low. As one staffer told me the night Romney won the Michigan primary: “Everyone’s allowed to skip one in this cycle.” (At least one, n.b.: Rudy.)
Last night, Romney doubled* re-upped and increased his SC ad buy. If Romney is really “not playing” here, as they say, he’s chosen a very expensive bench to warm.
* Yikes. Doubling would be very expensive indeed. Misunderstood my source’s tip. Sorry.