Romney, Paul spending on campaign airtime in Nevada while Gingrich stays quiet

By Karoun Demirjian

Monday, Jan. 30, 2012 | 3:01 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- Newt Gingrich’s campaign and the political action committee that supports him have yet to purchase time on the Nevada airwaves for the days leading up to the state’s Republican caucuses.

Meanwhile, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul -- who placed first and second in the state’s 2008 caucuses and have bigger organizations in the Silver State -- have spent $370,000 and $350,000 each on airtime. Additionally, the pro-Romney PAC Restore our Future has spent $80,000 on ads supporting the candidate, according to Smart Media Group Delta.

Romney and Paul have been advertising in both the Reno and Las Vegas markets on cable, radio and broadcast stations.

Romney — who has been spending between $25,000 and $180,000 a week, ratcheting up over time — is currently airing two TV ads: one is an introductory piece and the other an attack on Gingrich.

While Gingrich and the pro-Gingrich Winning our Future PAC have made no ad buys for the time frame that includes the caucuses, they still could strike last-minute deals. Winning our Future was rumored to be scouting ad time in Nevada as recently as last week.

A Nevada spokesman said he was unaware of the reason no ad time had been purchased.

Last week, Winning our Future -- which is heavily financed by Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam -- dropped $6 million on ads in Florida. The pro-Romney Restoring our Future PAC has spent over $8 million.

Nevada, with fewer and smaller media markets, won’t see spending on that scale. According to a prominent GOP media buyer, eyes in Nevada would pop if candidates spent a half a million dollars in the week before the caucuses.

“A million dollars would be unreal,” the media buyer said. “A heavy buy [in Nevada] is probably half a million.”

Neither Romney nor Gingrich have recorded any Spanish-language media buys in Nevada yet. Romney has been outspending Gingrich in Spanish-language media in Florida: He has put down about $100,000, while Gingrich has only spent $25,000.

Contacts at the Gingrich campaign and Winning our Future PAC did not immediately respond to calls Monday afternoon.