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November 4, 2008

Over $1.5 Billion Spent in Most Expensive Race Ever
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Today’s vote ends the most expensive presidential campaign in US
history. Candidates raised more than $1.5 billion during the primary and
general election. This marks the first time a presidential race has
topped $1 billion. Barack Obama alone raised more than $600 million as
he dropped out of the public financing system.

Sheila Krumholz, of the Center For Responsive Politics: “The Obama
campaign, in particular, has had incredible success. To give some
perspective, Obama raised in just one month $150 million. That’s about
half of what John Kerry raised in the last presidential election
throughout his entire campaign. So there’s really no comparison between
this cycle’s spending and funds dedicated to previous presidential
elections. We’re on a different plane entirely.”

With the fundraising edge, Barack Obama has been able to vastly outspend
John Mc Cain on campaign ads. A new study by Neilsen reveals that Obama
ran 77 percent more TV ads last weekend in the key swing states of
Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Both campaigns advertised most heavily in Florida. Over the past month,
Obama ran nearly 25,000 ads in the state, nearly three times as many as
Mc Cain.



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