Hillary Clinton is canceling ads due to Hurricane Matthew

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Hillary Clinton is canceling ads due to Hurricane Matthew

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a Sept. 30, 2016 campaign rally at Coral Springs Gymnasium in Coral Springs, Fla. Ace Pictures TNS

WASHINGTON

Millions of Americans will watch weather news over the next few days, a potentially large audience for advertisers as Hurricane Matthew threatens to make landfall along the Florida coast.

But Florida voters won’t see the latest Hillary Clinton ads while watching the Weather Channel.

The Democratic nominee bought $63,000 worth of ads on the Weather Channel in Florida markets, a decision that was criticized by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

“I encourage both presidential campaigns to be sensitive to all affected by Hurricane #Matthew in the coming days,” Bush said in a Tweet where he linked to a story detailing the ad buy.

October 6, 2016

A day later, the Clinton campaign asked the Weather Channel to pull the ads until after the storm passes.

This video, posted to Instagram, shows wind and rain pick up as Hurricane Matthew moves through Nassau, Bahamas.

By McClatchy

“Earlier in the week we made changes to our TV ad reservations across hundreds of stations in several battleground states including Florida,” said Clinton spokesman Jesse Ferguson. “Less than 1% of those changes included the Weather Channel. We have requested that stations in Florida delay any of those ads on the Weather Channel until after the storm passes.”

Presidential candidates are put in a tough spot when disaster strikes during campaigns, especially if they are not sitting politicians who can muster resources in response.

“You need to strike a balance between looking presidential but not looking like you’re a politically crass politician who’s parachuting in for a photo op,” said Mitt Romney adviser Ryan Williams.

Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said it was "unfortunate that Reince Priebus is trying to politicize the hurricane." He said the campaign was in the process of buying TV nationwide on "100s of different" media outlets and the Weather Channel was a small part of it.

He said the storm was so serious "we asked the WC to roll back the buy until storm is concluded."

Trump and Clinton have been using social media to express concern and urge preparedness over the storm.

October 6, 2016

Efforts on the ground by both campaigns in Florida will likely stop in parts of the state for a few days as staffers, volunteers and their families recover from Matthew.

Hurricane Matthew, the fiercest storm to hit South Florida in more than a decade, slogged its way across the Bahamas Thursday morning and began its steady and strengthening trek toward the state’s coastline.

By McClatchy

Alex Daugherty: 202-383-6049, @alextdaugherty

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Hillary Clinton is canceling ads due to Hurricane Matthew | McClatchy Washington Bureau

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