Cardon filming new ad, not winding down campaign

By Alexandra Jaffe - 08/07/12 05:02 PM ET

Arizona Republican contender for U.S. Senate Wil Cardon plans to put out a new television ad in the coming weeks, just as Arizona begins early voting.

Cardon posted a photo from a video shoot for his new ad on his Facebook page on Tuesday, likely an effort to quell bubbling rumors that the candidate is winding down his race. Those rumors were largely fueled by an Arizona Republic report published that same day that the Cardon campaign would be going dark starting Wednesday, as the candidate's last recorded ad buy ends on Tuesday. Just hours after the Republic's post went live, however, Cardon offered evidence on his Facebook page that he wasn't bowing out of the fight yet.

"I'm excited for the last three weeks of this primary race and can't wait to see all of you out on the campaign trail!" Cardon wrote in a note attached to the photo.

Opponent Jeff Flake, the U.S. representative for Arizona's 6th district, has held a vast lead over Cardon for the duration of the race, but the most recent polling, taken in mid-May, showed Cardon surging to double-digit support — a significant improvement from previous polling that had shown him bringing in less than 10 percent support. That poll showed Flake's support dropping below 50 percent for the first time, potentially indicating that a barrage of attack ads put out by the Cardon campaign were taking their toll on Flake.

But with Flake still leading by double digits in that last poll, a win for Cardon is by no means assured. His underdog status, however, isn't deterring the candidate from continuing to campaign up until the election, Cardon spokeswoman Alyssa Pivirotto said.

"With just 3 weeks until the Arizona Republican primary, Wil Cardon is outworking every candidate in the US Senate race. He continues to tirelessly travel the state talking with Arizonans, attend as many candidate forums as humanly possible and reach out to voters over the phone and even visit their homes. Wil is not slowing down and neither is his campaign. While we would never reveal campaign strategy for the next 3 weeks, rest assured, Wil Cardon is in this race to win it," she said in a statement.