Ad Spending Tops Half-Billion Mark

[spanone]

Republicans have outspent Democrats in all but three swing states.

President Obama, Mitt Romney, and their partisan allies have dumped more than half a billion dollars on television advertising this cycle, putting the two sides on pace to easily eclipse the $1 billion mark before Election Day, according to sources who track the television-advertising market.

To put that in perspective: If the two sides had pooled their resources, they could have purchased two new Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets and had more than $100 million left over. They could have purchased a one-half share in the Cleveland Browns football team, which sold last month for $1 billion. They could have purchased 144.5 million gallons of gasoline at an average price of $3.70 per gallon, or purchased 24,257 Toyota Camrys--almost as many as were sold in the entire country last month.

Instead, that money has gone to a barrage of attack advertisements, alternately depicting Obama as willfully making the economy worse and Romney as the misanthropic businessman out to line his own pocket.

Obama's campaign has spent the most, more than $225 million on advertising in key battleground states. While Romney's campaign lags far behind, at just $68 million spent so far, a trio of outside organizations--American Crossroads, Crossroads GPS, and Americans for Prosperity--have combined to purchase another $145 million in television spots. All told, Romney and his allies have now outspent Obama and his allies by nearly $20 million.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/2012-presidential-campaign/ad-spending-tops-half-billion-mark-20120817

[CurtEastPoint]

1. This is just shameful. Public funding only, equal amounts, limited ad periods.

Of course, we have to change the Constitution to get rid of the 'people' known as corporations, my friend.