No GOP ad blitz, says Romney

DES MOINES -- Governor Mitt Romney yesterday ruled out a statewide television advertising campaign designed to elect more Republicans to the Legislature, and he continued to downplay his chances of scoring big gains in the legislative races this fall.

Romney said in an interview with the Globe that the state Republican Party has only about $500,000 on hand for the final weeks of the campaign -- not enough for large-scale television advertising. Republican strategists had laid plans to use Romney in ads to help break Democrats' hold on the House and Senate. ''There's no grand plan to run TV ads across the state," Romney said shortly before speaking at a fund-raising dinner for the Iowa Republican Party. ''There's not going to be a big statewide TV campaign, but we're going to do a better job than we have in the past."

The governor has put much of his political reputation on the line by attempting to win Republicans seats in the November election. Still, he said he is ''realistic" about GOP prospects in legislative races, adding that the party is fighting an uphill battle because four Republican state lawmakers are retiring.

''If we weren't fighting, we'd lose all four seats," Romney said. ''I hope that we can keep all four seats, and maybe add one or two."

RICK KLEIN