Yesterday, for the first time in months, Pennsylvania viewers didn't get to see a single commercial for U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum on broadcast television.

John Brabender, the Republican's veteran news media strategist, said it was a momentary hiatus while the campaign recalibrated its homestretch media mix.

He dismissed suggestions from a Casey aide that the fact that the incumbent had, at least temporarily, "gone dark" was evidence of depleted finances in a campaign that had set a fund-raising record for Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate candidates.

By Sept. 30, the Republican had raised roughly $25 million. Mr. Casey had raised just under $15 million, but the Democrat had slightly more cash left on hand than the more free-spending incumbent -- $3.7 million to $3.6 million, at the end of the last reporting period.

The Santorum campaign had far outspent the Democrat on television through the summer and early fall. Mr. Brabender acknowledged that that won't be true this week, but said that his client would still have aired nearly a million dollars worth of combined cable and broadcast television ads by the close of the weekend.

"We're in the process of placing $700,000 [in ads] right now which will give us something like $1 million for the week," he said.

Mr. Brabender said that, in a tactical response to their perception that this will be a low-turnout election, the campaign was focusing relatively more ad dollars on cable news programs watched by voters who are more engaged by politics than the general television viewer.

"They can spin this however they want, but it's a strategic marketing decision," he said.