企业家维韦克·拉马斯瓦米(Vivek Ramaswamy)的总统竞选活动停止了电视广告，距离1月15日爱荷华州的党团会议只有几周时间。
此举表明，在共和党总统初选进入关键阶段之际，竞选活动的投资正在重新调整，尽管它坚称仍在以其他方式花钱，以提高其在选民中的地位。
“我们的支出水平没有改变——我们只是在遵循数据。竞选发言人Tricia McLaughlin在一份声明中说:“我们专注于吸引我们已经确定的选民，接触他们的最佳方式是使用可寻址广告、邮件、文本、直播电话和门户网站与我们的选民就Vivek对美国的愿景进行沟通，制定他们的计划并让他们投票。”。
“如你所知，这不是大多数活动的样子。我们有意识地构建这种方式，以便我们有能力在我们的广告支出中变得灵活和高度有针对性，”她补充说。“准备好迎接1月15日的重大挫折吧，祝那些依靠传统广告支出来中饱私囊的政治顾问们好运。”
尽管如此，在1月23日爱荷华州的党团会议和新罕布什尔州的初选之前，这种背离传统策略的竞选活动可能会令人惊讶，特别是在拉马斯瓦米竞选团队11月份宣称将在多个平台上花费1000多万美元进行广告宣传之后。
此举还可能有助于其他共和党初选竞争者在该党首次提名竞争的最后阶段在广告方面超过拉马斯瓦米。
整个夏天，拉马斯瓦米的关注度和势头都在飙升，尤其是在他在第一场初选辩论中的精彩表现之后。然而，从那以后，他在早期的州停滞不前，同时仍然在打击极右翼和阴谋的谈话要点，包括在没有证据的情况下暗示2021年1月6日的起义是“监守自盗”。
拉马斯瓦米现在在爱荷华州538的平均民调中排名第四，在新罕布什尔州538的平均民调中排名第五。
尽管如此，他对唐纳德·特朗普的口头支持为他赢得了这位前总统的喝彩，他周二在他的真理社交平台上写道，拉马斯瓦米将“支持我”，但“还没有完成!”
Ramaswamy halts television advertising weeks out from Iowa caucuses
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy's presidential campaign is halting its television advertising just weeks out from Iowa's caucuses on Jan. 15.
The move suggests a rejiggering of the campaign's investments heading into a crucial stretch in the GOP presidential primary, though it maintains it is still spending money in other ways to improve its standing with voters.
"Our spending levels haven’t changed -- we’re just following the data. We are focused on bringing out the voters we’ve identified -- best way to reach them is using addressable advertising, mail, text, live calls and doors to communicate with our voters on Vivek’s vision for America, making their plan to caucus and turning them out," campaign spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
"As you know, this isn’t what most campaigns look like. We have intentionally structured this way so that we have ability to be nimble and hyper targeted in our ad spending," she added. "Get ready for a major upset on Jan. 15 and good luck to the political consultants who are reliant on traditional ad spending to line their pockets."
Still, such a campaign shift away from a traditional tactic could raise eyebrows before Iowa's caucuses and New Hampshire's primary on Jan. 23, especially after the Ramaswamy campaign boasted in November that it would spend over $10 million on advertising across multiple platforms.
The move could also help other GOP primary contenders surpass Ramaswamy in advertising in the home stretch to the party's first nominating contests.
Ramaswamy over the summer enjoyed a surge of attention and momentum, particularly after his combative performance in the first primary debate. Since then, however, he has stagnated in the early states while still hammering away at far-right and conspiratorial talking points, including suggesting without evidence the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection was an "inside job."
Ramaswamy now sits at a distant fourth in 538's polling average in Iowa and fifth in 538's polling average in New Hampshire.
Still, his vocal support for Donald Trump has earned him plaudits from the former president, who wrote on his Truth Social platform Tuesday that Ramaswamy will "Endorse me" but "is not done yet!"
