Presidential Ad Spending to Surpass $1 Billion
This presidential election season has seen some of the largest contributions ever made to a specific candidate and is already on pace to be the most expensive election of all time.
Both campaigns combined are on pace to spend more than $1 billion on ads and already the campaigns and outside groups have combined to spend $968 million, according to NBC News/SMG Delta.
In just the last week alone there has been a staggering $143 million spent on ads across the country, but predominantly in those crucial swing states, with Ohio being the most hotly contested of them.
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The enormous amount money spent this past week is a new record for this presidential cycle, with no signs of it slowing down as more ads are expected to be booked in the coming days.
Gov. Mitt Romney's campaign, including outside groups that are supporting the Republican nominee, have outspent President Obama's campaign and outside support $96.4 million to $46.2 million in the past week.
Even with the recordbreaking amount of money being spent by both of the candidates, national polls are showing that they are in a virtual tie.
Both candidates, despite the disparity in sending, are also nearly even in what's referred to as ad points, which specifically refer to the total amount of ads being run by both candidates, according to SMG Delta.
That is due to the fact the president does not have to pay as much for his ads as Gov. Romney does and the president buys ads well in advance while Romney's camp tends to buy ads right before they want them to air.
For the entire election Gov. Romney's campaign has spent $573.2 million compared with the president's $394.4 million in expenditures this election.
The vast majority of outside money has gone to support Romney. Nearly 85 percent of all outside money contributed during this election season has gone to support Romney or denounce Obama.
