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Subscribe to RSSAd spending in the presidential campaign has now topped $800 million and is on pace to reach or come close to $1 billion, according to an NBC analysis of data provided by ad-buying firm SMG Delta.
Jim Young / Reuters
President Barack Obama looks over at Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney during the second presidential campaign debate on Oct. 16 in Hempstead, N.Y.
So far, $807 million has been spent on political ads for radio and television -- local and national, cable and broadcast.
The Obama campaign is one ad buy away from reaching $300 million by itself. But with outside money factored in, "Team Romney" (the campaign plus outside groups supporting him or attacking the president) is outspending "Team Obama" $455 million to $352 million.
The Romney campaign, which has come on since Labor Day, is now the second-biggest spender at $164 million.
Time Magazine's Nancy Gibbs, Bob Herbert, the distinguished fellow at Demos, and Politico's Maggie Haberman join Chuck Todd to talk about the path to 270 and the town hall debate.
Following the Romney campaign are the combined Karl-Rove backed Crossroads groups -- American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS. Combined, the two groups have spent $124 million ($65 million for American Crossroads, $59 million for GPS).
GPS's spending has dropped off in the past couple of months, ceding the presidential ground to American Crossroads, which announced an $11 million ad buy just this week.
Other big spenders: Restore Our Future (pro-Romney) $69 million, Priorities USA (pro-Obama) $48 million, Americans for Prosperity (pro-Romney) $46 million, the Republican National Committee (pro-Romney) $24 million, and late-comer Americans for Job Security (pro-Romney) $9 million.
The states seeing the biggest spending are the usual suspects: Florida, Ohio, and Virginia, where more than half of all the money's been spent -- $452 million.
In the last three weeks, Ohio is gaining on Florida for the top spot. Florida still leads at $166 million, followed by Ohio $160 million, and Virginia $126 million.
Also rising fast -- Colorado, Iowa, and Wisconsin.
Colorado has now passed North Carolina for the No. 4 spot at $72 million spent.
North Carolina, which saw a lot of spending early in the campaign, has seen a reduction of the pace of ads since Labor Day. It now sits fifth at $69 million total.
Iowa is next at $62 million, followed by Nevada $49 million, New Hampshire $34 million, and Wisconsin $32 million.
What's fascinating about Wisconsin is it was barely a blip on the ad-spending radar before the pick of Paul Ryan to be Romney's vice president.
Markets like Green Bay and Madison are now routinely in the top 10 hottest markets by number of ads being run. In fact, this week they clock in at Nos. 1 and No. 5 on that list.
Top Markets:
1. Green Bay
2. Denver
3. Cincinnati
4. Columbus
5. Madison
6. Toledo
7. Cleveland
8. Orlando-Daytona Beach
9. Las Vegas
10. Reno
Despite polling showing the race closing in Pennsylvania and Romney's birth state of Michigan, little to no money is being spent in either state. Neither the Romney nor Obama campaigns, in fact, have spent ANY money at all on ads in Michigan. The Obama campaign spent about $5 million early on in Pennsylvania.
And of the 17 "swing markets," ones won by both Obama and George W. Bush, the only two that have seen little action are Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo and Lansing, both in Michigan.
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This is ridiculous to the point of being obscene. It's time to seriously consider not only spending limits but also time limits on campaigning. Do we need constant campaigning from what now appears to be the end of each election? I would think no more than six months is a reasonable amount of time for a campaign season. House of Representative campaigns should be limited to three months so the elected officials (our employees!) would be encouraged to do some actual work other than constantly be on the prowl for financial support.
I AGREE
JP in SD.....what planet are you on ? Ever hear of the Supreme Court or the Citizens United decision ?
That case was all about controlling the amount of money corporations and the rich are pouring into the elections. The conservative court said that they didn't see a problem with that. You want change ? Vote straight Democrat and help the President change it.
What ever.
What can you spect, not iven
Honey Boo Boo, will pick Romney as a winner
Most of Obama's ads address the abortion issue, as if that is the most important issue for women today. None of his ads talk about his track record. I wonder why.
Because there are more women than men in this country.
We care about economics too, probably more tham those like you. But we want control of our personal lives. We don't want a government of tired old men telling us how to behave. Especially after having a few wives and mistresses.
I suggest a vasectomy for every Repulican man over fifty.
Women need to start taking responsibilty for their personal lives instead of relying on abortion as a means of birth control. And I am a woman and that's my opinion.
You want control over your bodies, then really take control.
Then don't expect someone else to pay for your choices.
Shouldn't we just be so proud, as a country for spending all this money on election campaigns.
What say the poverty level is? Which cities can't afford policemen and firefighters? Medicare and Social Security can't make it?
Aren't we a great example for the world? Of what???
Billionaires get to pick political candidates. The Republicans get to change their stories depending on the time of day and whether it's behind closed doors or for public consumption.
Bottom line: And we can't implement any legislation unless it has the approval of Grover Nordquist and the Koch brothers. Plus our notorious friend from Las Vegas.
Let's neuter them all and then see what they have to say!!!!
Sounds great. Let's have women controlling men's issues for a change.
Think how much these jerks could bring down the national debt if they put this spending in that area rather than trying to be actors in a debate.
Think people if the poor had all that money they wouldn't be poor anymore. To bad its all wasted on nasty political ads that try to scare the American people. Just goes to show that no one cares anymore.
What a ridiculous waste of money.
A billion dollars to watch a bunch of clowns fool the puppets, Not worth a dime the criminals they have become. Turning this bought and paid for deception into a jokers paradise and turning Americans into the same, A bunch of stupid jokers in Disney land, Obama train of destruction.. Go O-Abomination, the politicians like Obama saying, screw the people we get paid back by their stolen taxes..
Shows how much they care for the people of this country and yet they still vote for them. What a laugh!
What a sad statement on the current condition of humanity. A billion dollars spent on marketing instead of cancer research or jobs... >.<
Does anyone beside me see the totally insanity of this amount of money being spent on advertising ( when the news networks show all each candiate says or does every day)? Wouldn't be amazing and make you believe the one that would say" Instead of talking about what I'm going to do for this country, I am going to raise this amount of money& instead of advertising to get me elected to start some of these programs, pay down our debt,etc." Actions speak louder than words! Stop telling us what has been done or will be done & do something productive toward helping "the middle class" that you keep talking about. Reduce your pension, give up some of your benefits, use the same insurance that "the middle class" will have . I am not speaking of any one party but all parties & representatives in our Congress ,Senate or any elected offical that is there to "serve the country & its' people!I'd vote for that candidate!
So what are the chances that the funding agents for the GOP Assault on Main Street Task Force-will let him keep all of those nice promises he made to the Poor and Middle-Class (same thing since they move the qualifier amount all of the time)? Absolutely zero chance.
Carl Rove and the koch brothers can't be happy with their paided for candidate in romney because you can't fix clueless and foot in mouth at the same time. Mitt romney just can't stand the pressure when someone stands up to him and he keeps forgetting that he is not in one of his board rooms telling everyone what to do. Last night he trued the stair down tactic with President Obama and was basically put in time out by the President and the moderator, this makes you really wonder how is he suppose to deal with north korea because unlike china they could care less about being on his payroll. All of the republicans and right wing people claim that romney won but can't explain where, how or why? And making excuses and flip flop reverse psychology for him is not going to work either. Romney just plain got knock out by a person in President Obama that he could not bully.
Carl Rove is one of the most dangerous people in this country. His "contracts" with the GOP about not raising taxes smack of the Gestapo. Somebody needs to find something illegal about Rove and shut him up.
Thank You to the Supreme Court for handing our elections over to the richest corporations and individuals. Well done.
The next President will appoint at least two new Supreme Court judges over the next four years as two or three of them will be retiring.
Vote Romney if you want more of this. Vote Obama if you want this situation to change. Me, it's a straight Democratic ticket, all the way.
But I though "Corporations are people, too." What a load of crap and the SCOTUS really dropped the ball on this.
Then that old saying is correct, "There is no accounting for ignorance".
Getting Tough on China: The Truth About Trade
President Obama said during the debate that he signed three trade deals. Not true. Obama was left three free trade agreements on his desk when he took office. Those deals and many others were initiated, negotiated, and signed by President Bush. The one trade agreement that Obama has prioritized, the Transpacific Partnership (TPP) involving now 11 countries, was also initiated by President George W. Bush.
What Obama did was to delay passage of agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama that were already completed. He did so to appease labor unions and others in his political base. During the three years of waiting for the President to submit the U.S.-Korea FTA, the U.S. lost $30 billion in exports.
The United States needs an energetic, committed trade policy. We need a TPP that is truly a free trade agreement and of sufficient scale to make a major impact on the U.S. economy. That means accommodating the world’s third largest economy and U.S. ally, Japan. In means folding in other willing free trade partners like South Korea. And it means putting TPP on a timeline that gets it completed, passed and implemented as quickly as possible.
Are Oil Companies Sitting on Leases?
Are oil companies sitting on leases? The short answer is no. President Obama made this statement tonight, and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar routinely makes this statement. But as Kathleen Sgamma, Vice President of Government and Public Affairs for the Western Energy Alliance, recently testified:
Rather than implementing an efficient leasing process, the Department of the Interior added three unnecessary and duplicative administrative regulations to the leasing process in 2010. Oil companies are not sitting on leases; they are simply not being issued by the DOI, or the DOI is making it more difficult to actually obtain the leases.
Deep Water Horizon-Maconda-really big oil leak-weeks and weeks for one company to figure out that buoyancy precludes dropping a really big shower cap on a really big leak.
So new rules implementing in many cases the same ones that oil companies must follow in international waters. Monitor the well head? Deep Well safety provisions that work everywhere else but not in the Gulf? What? If the player doesn't like 5-card stud-don't play the game.
BP actually had to pay for damages in less than 10-years of Exxon-like squabbling. Who is Western Energy Alliance-more shell company flotsam?
RNC-The only direct party entity-the rest is covert special interest. (campaign money laundering)
What are the monikers all about? Product placement for a comedy script. How are the ghost operatives going to lead America? If they are so adept at policy and execution why are so many required to attempt the dislodge of one President?
Where are all of the other pacs and people for Obama like george soros that you left out? What about the DNC?
An article was already run earlier in the week describing the principle Democratic contributing to the president's election fund-mostly voters at about $53.00 dollars average.
Either the other references don't appear in the article or I didn't see it. One interesting fact is Karl Rove-which means the same old Bush Regime is lurking. No Thanks.
You are however free to do the work yourself by performing research then posting your own incriminating list in defense of your favorite American idol Contestant...I'm sorry candidate..
WASHINGTON | Sun Oct 7, 2012 12:27pm EDT
i watched david letterman a couple weeks ago and he had the british prime minister on there and he said that in the uk they could only spend $200,000 total on their election campaigns and NO tv advertising at all, none. here you watch 5 minutes of tv and 7 minutes of political ads with one guy bashing the other guy. don't waste your time and money and my time telling me what a loser the other guy is. tell me what you're going to do for me.
john5651, we are in agreement, almost, stop bashing and tell what you are going to do to fix the country. I don't want ANY president to do for me, I want them to do for the country.
Let's play a game shall we? Let's take $1,000,000,000 and spend it.
Total: $178.5 million
Our change after paying with a billion-dollar bill is a meager $821.5 million… that's left over folks.
Let's add a $20,000 a night suite at a very exclusive hotel for 20 years (a 7,300 night stay). Total for the hotel (every night for the next 20 years) - $146,000,000.
Total Left: 675.5 million left... (still a big number, $675,500,000)
This is getting tiring; who knew spending money would be so exhausting...
OK let's do some good works.
Let’s assume, in a large city like New York City, that a large soup kitchen has an annual operating budget of $2.5 million dollars. Let’s pledge to privately fund this organization, meaning all money can now go towards the soup kitchen and none to fundraising. Let’s pledge to fund the group for the next 10 years | $2,500,000 x 10 years = $25,000,000.
Let’s then give to ten different children’s hospitals, I can’t imagine anyone would protest, let’s say, $500,000 each, per year = $5,000,000… and let’s do it for the next ten years = $50,000,000.
How about something to do with education? Let’s take a total of ten underfunded schools, the one’s that are having issues getting new computers, new books etc… and let’s donate another $500,000 to each one = $5,000,000 … and let’s do it for the next ten years = $50,000,000.
Let’s say we give our twenty-five closest friends and relatives $1,000,000 each to do with as they please = $25,000,000.
And then let’s set up a Foundation to continue various charitable works in our communities… let’s go with a $50,000,000 seed.
After all this work I’m going to need a vacation, let’s go on a yearlong, luxury cruise around the world shall we? I’ll be generous and we’ll stay in a presidential suite on the ship, with taxes, tip, spending money, etc… Let’s say that $1,500,000 for two.
Wow, I don’t think this will ever end!!!
OK this should do it… Finally, let’s do a remake of the last Harry Potter movies, cost = $250,000,000.
After spending all of that money, surely we have gone through everything they will spend on this election…
Total Left = $224,000,000.00
Great job in the second debate.
This is facually incorrect. You can google it read the statement your self. Benghazi was NEVER mentioned in that Rose garden speach. Obama did mention "acts of terror" in general, but that is it.
And even if he did mention Benghazi in that speach, why did he and every one in his admin spend the next 2 weeks blaming about the youtube video?
I'd vote for the candidate who gives all of his contributions to charity. Enough with the "candidate who spends the most wins" mentality. Put all of that money to good use!
Funny, all of this money and I haven't watched a single one all the way through from either side. What is a highly informed voter going to learn from a :30 second spot? Nothing!
On the question about how Romney is different from Bush, the president gave some differences between the two. What both Romney and the president did not mention was one important similarity between the two and that is----Both of them are republicans who embrace same republican policies that brought the country into this great mess that we are struggling to come out of.
That is factually incorrect. It was Dem policies that got us into this mess. I will however admit that the Repubs did have a hand in it as they did not fix it. Bush warned the senate 17 times that this was comming starting back in 2007 and the Dem controlled sentate refused to act, Barny Frank any one?
The money would have been better spent on crumbling infrastructure.....
Where the hell do you live that you have a "crumbling infrastructure"? Maybe you should take that up with your local government instead of the federal government.
I think it would say a lot more about the character of the men we are thinking of electing as ruler of the free world if they would spend that billion dollars helping the economy instead of slinging mud and telling lies and wasting my time. Then they would not need all the tv and newspaper ads telling us how bad their opponent is. The example they would be setting would be enough to get my vote, but I will not vote for the lesser of two evils, civic duty or not.
First of all...there is NO RULER OF THE FREE WORLD.... it is Leader...not Ruler!