Total Fundraising For Presidential Campaign Passes $1,000,000,000 Mark

With some three-and-a-half months left until Election Day, we’ve already reached a benchmark in Presidential campaign fundraising:

WASHINGTON – Less than four months until Election Day, the battle for the White Housealready has crossed the $1 billion mark — as the presidential candidates, political parties and the two super PACs closely aligned with President Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney race to collect political cash.

The biggest spending is yet to come in a presidential race that could hit an eye-popping $3 billion, said Bob Biersack of the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign money. Much of it may never be fully disclosed as it flows through “social welfare” groups active in politics this year.

All this money means an advertising barrage this fall “that’s going to be impossible to avoid,” said Biersack, a former Federal Election Commission official. “If you live in one of the 10 or so swing states, your television is going to melt.”

As a resident of one of those swing states, I can only say kill me now.

FILED UNDER: 2012 Election, US Politics, , , , , , , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. Scott says:

    I pity the poor souls in the swing states. I wonder if there will be an unintended consequence. As it is, I never watch TV unrecorded so I zip through all commercials. Even if I’m watching live sports, at commercials, I’ll hit the pause button, walk away for 3 minutes, and then forward back to live. By the end of this political season, maybe everyone will be doing that.

  2. PJ says:

    @Doug Mataconis:

    As a resident of one of those swing states, I can only say kill me now.

    Considering what’s happened today and where it happened, not the best choice of words.

  3. Tsar Nicholas says:

    I’m actually surprised thus far they’ve only raised $1B. I figured by now they’d be well above that. There’s a helluva lot more than $1B at stake. Plus with Zombieland having devolved into a state of de facto catatonia the only effective way in which to run a campaign in this day and age is to get on the idiot box and to bombard them with sound bites, hoping that eventually your message seeps through. Are there other realistic options? I can’t see any.

    In any event, of course the airwaves out here in the Golden State are free and clear of any Obama-Romney propaganda. It’s a beautiful thing.

  4. Nikki says:

    As a resident of one of those swing states, I can only say kill me now.

    I believe I saw the “Firms” ad at least 7 times yesterday. As good/great as it may be, now just thinking about “America the Beautiful” fills me with a murderous rage…

  5. Loviatar says:

    Doug writes this post 2 days after James wrote a post agreeing with an article written one of the New York Times pet centrist Democrats.

    What Citizens United Changed: Not Much

    While the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United has been blamed for the massive increase in money in this year’s campaign, it really wasn’t the culprit.

    I wonder who is correct.