GOP Closing Its Wallet In Ohio

In the waning days of what many thought would be one of the nation's most watched Senate races, the Republican National Committee now says it won't spend another penny on TV advertising in Ohio.

That leaves one of the party's former stars — Republican Senator Mike DeWine — to defend his seat on his own.

DeWine has been lagging in the polls, trailing Democrat Sherrod Brown by as much as 14 points two week ago.

With razor thin races in other key states like Tennessee and Missouri, the Republicans now seem to be shifting their money where they've the best chance of protecting their seats.

It all sounds rather ominous at first, reports CBS News correspondent Lee Cowan, but it may have little effect on Republicans here. This has already been one of the most costly races in the country and there is still plenty of money to be had.

Millions of outside dollars are still flowing into both campaigns. Republicans have raised more than 14 million here, and Democrats aren't far behind.

"I would guess the party and my campaign together will spend well over $10 million dollars," Brown tells Cowan.

Both still have cash on hand, especially Senator DeWine, who has nearly three times more than Brown had as of last week.

Ohio's TV airwaves are already crammed with ads. So crammed that some wonder just how the campaigns hope to spend what they have left.

"Literally, they were talking a couple of weeks ago that it was almost impossible to buy additional airtime on the three network affiliates, the local affiliates here," Herb Asher, a political science professor at Ohio State University, tells Cowan. "All the time was bought up."

Still, TV productions houses across Columbus are working around the clock to finish the last of their political proddings. It is in their darkrooms where money talks louder than ever this time of year. And who has the most, often talks the loudest.