Nearly $200 Spent on Presidential Campaign TV Ads to Date

Almost $200 million has been spent on television advertising so far during this presidential election year, with the overwhelming amount of recent spending coming from the race for the Democratic nomination. In total, Democratic candidates for president have spent close to $135 million on campaign advertising, while Republican candidates have spent some $57 million. Hillary Clinton has spent over $46 million on campaign advertising, while Barack Obama has spent approximately $75 million on ads, more than the total amount spent by the entire Republican field. In states with nominating contests prior to and including Super Tuesday, the Clinton and Obama campaigns were about equal in the amount of spending on television advertising. In states with primaries from February 9-19, however, Senator Obama out-advertised Senator Clinton by a ratio of over 3 to 1. In states with primaries after February 19, the Obama campaign has spent twice as much on campaign advertising as the Clinton campaign.
From February 5 to February 19, Senator Obama won nine straight contests netting 118 delegates on Senator Clinton (281 to 163). In the February 5-19 states (Louisiana, Nebraska, Washington, Maine, DC, Maryland, Virginia, Hawaii, and Wisconsin), the Obama campaign out-advertised the Clinton campaign by a sizable margin. The smallest margin was 3 to 2 in Nebraska, and Washington state. Obama maintained a margin of more than 3 to 1 in the District of Columbia and Maryland, of more than 4 to 1 in Virginia and Wisconsin and a margin of 5 to 1 in Maine. In Louisiana and Hawaii, Obama had the airways all to himself.
http://wiscadproject.wisc.edu/wiscads_pressrelease_060208.pdf