Senate GOP increases ad buys for Fiorina and Toomey

With Marco Rubio comfortably ahead, Republicans are taking ad money that the party had planned to spend in Florida's Senate race and are using it to boost two other GOP Senate candidates: Carly Fiorina in California and Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania.

According to Republican Party sources, the National Republican Senatorial Committee will now spend another $1.8 million to boost Fiorina's bid to unseat California Democrat Barbara Boxer. That's in addition to the $3 million the party originally budgeted for the race. In Pennsylvania, the NRSC now plans to spend at least another $1.7 million—roughly double its initial pledge--to boost Toomey's candidacy against Democrat Joe Sestak.

For weeks, Toomey has led Sestak in the polls by anywhere from 5 to 10 points, but the NRSC's decision to spend more in the race hints that Republicans still aren't quite comfortable that Toomey has the race locked up. Sestak, after all, overcame a deficit of nearly 10 points at the last minute to unseat Sen. Arlen Specter in the state's Democratic Senate primary. But Dems are facing a dismal political climate in the state, which has been hit hard by the economy.

In California, Fiorina had been trailing Boxer in the polls, but in the last week, several surveys have found the race virtually deadlocked. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week found Boxer leading Fiorina by just 4 points, barely out of the margin of error. While the NRSC made a big commitment in the race early on, Republicans have questioned whether Fiorina would dip into her personal fortune to boost her own campaign, as she did in the primary.

The big question is how much money the parties will have to spend in the final weeks of the campaign. On Friday, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee announced it had raised $15.5 million in September, its largest month of fundraising yet and double what it raised in August. The DSCC did not disclose its cash-on-hand number, which will be filed in a report with the Federal Election Commission later Friday. Meanwhile, an NRSC spokesman reported that the group raised $8.3 million in September, ending the month with $19.2 million cash on hand.

(Photo of Carly Fiorina: Chris Carlson/AP)