Super Tuesday TV Spending Not So Super

If it weren’t for the candidates' PACs, Super Tuesday spending would have been a trickle.

A whopping 87 percent of the $6.1 million spent on spot TV during the last week (Feb. 27 to March 4) leading up to the 10 primaries, was PAC money, according to a TVB analysis of Campaign Media Analysis Group data. Only two of the GOP Presidential hopefuls, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul, spent their own money. Both Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum relied on their PACs for their TV ad exposure. PACs funded all races in Tennessee, Alaska, Oklahoma and Georgia. About $10.5 million was spent year-to-date on TV in the 10 Super Tuesday states with 60 percent of its funding spots in the days leading up to the election day. Candidate spending was targeted and heavily concentrated. About 40 percent of political dollars was spent in Ohio, where Romney outspent the combined budgets of Gingrich and Santorum 4 to 1. Virginia, North Dakota, and Massachusetts didn't get a dime. In Massachusetts and Virginia, Romney was a slam-dunk. In North Dakota, Santorum was a lock.