Where’s the Love for Trump? Not in Ads for G.O.P. Candidates

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/15/us/politics/gop-congress-trump.html

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As Republican candidates for the House and Senate have been rolling out their final round of political advertisements before Election Day, one thing has been conspicuously absent: love for Donald J. Trump.

The release of a video showing Mr. Trump boasting of sexually assaulting women followed by more allegations from women saying he touched them inappropriately has made the Republican nominee increasingly toxic to vulnerable Republican candidates who are looking to hold onto their seats. The narrow path that they walk in appealing to undecided voters without angering Mr. Trump’s base of supporters is particularly evident on the airwaves.

In Pennsylvania, where recent polls show Hillary Clinton opening up wide lead, Senator Pat Toomey this week released an ad that was focused entirely on his skepticism about Mr. Trump.

“I have a lot of disagreements with Donald Trump,” Mr. Toomey said in the opening moment of the ad in which he casts himself as someone who would be a check against Mr. Trump’s bad ideas. “I’ve been very clear about that.”

The National Republican Congressional Committee is also investing in advertising to try to stop Republicans from losing seats in the House of Representatives. A new ad from the committee this week attacked Kim Myers and Martin Babinec, a Democrat and an independent candidate, who are running against Claudia Tenney, a Republican, in New York.

The ad, which makes no mention of Mr. Trump, warns that Ms. Tenney’s opponents are supporters of Mrs. Clinton and essentially assumes that she will win the election.

“That’s why we can’t let extreme liberal Kim Myers and millionaire Martin Babinec rubber stamp Hillary Clinton’s agenda in Congress,” the narrator says.

More ads featuring Republicans distancing themselves from Mr. Trump are expected.

Scott W. Reed, the senior political strategist for the United States Chamber of Commerce, predicted in August that if Mr. Trump’s poll numbers plummeted in the fall, Republicans would have no choice but to navigate around him.

Earlier this week, Speaker Paul D. Ryan advised House Republicans to do what they needed to do when it came to expressing support, or disgust, with Mr. Trump.

The delicate dance is putting Republicans in an awkward position, leaving them open to cries of hypocrisy from Democrats and jokes on late night comedy shows.

Jimmy Kimmel took notice of Mr. Toomey’s political acrobatics on his program on Thursday night with a spoof ad in which someone pretending to be the senator called Mr. Trump a national embarrassment and a disgrace before going on to say, “a disgraceful embarrassment who I am proud to support for president of the United States.”