The 2014 House and Senate midterms will cost around $3.67 billion, the
Center for Responsive Politics estimates, with over $100 million more in
undisclosed "dark money" spent by certain kinds of outside groups.
The campaigns themselves have already reported spending $1.2 billion.
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So where is all of that money going?
Senate campaigns aren't required to tell us by Election Day--they submit
spending reports to the Federal Election Commission on paper, a
seemingly antiquated system that prevents reporters and the public from
being able to dig effectively through their latest receipts and
expenses. For most campaigns, sortable expense data is only available
through June. Weeks or months later, we'll get a fuller picture.
But Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, apparently out of the goodness of his
heart, has been filing his disclosures electronically since October
2013, giving us a window into how Senate campaigns are spending their
millions of dollars these days.
Since Oct. 1, 2013, Begich has spent $7.3 million, a middling total for
campaigns. Alaska isn't the most expensive state in which a candidate
can run, and it's outside the top 10 this election cycle for candidate
spending, although, including outside money, it's the sixth most
expensive of all 2014 Senate races, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
The categories are based on those provided by the campaign in its
disclosures, and they're lumped together somewhat. Office expenses
include things like furniture and phones. Consulting and IT services
include things like, well, IT services, but also $142,000 spent through a
fundraising-consulting firm, Benchmark Strategies, which was reimbursed
for things like travel and food for fundraising purposes, in addition
to getting paid.
A campaign spends a lot of miscellaneous money on signs, banners,
balloons, etc., but the bulk, as you can see, is spent advertising on
TV, radio, and online--a full 58 percent of Begich's budget. Each
campaign is different, but the priority on ads was true for President Obama and Mitt Romney, as it's true for Begich's campaign in 2014.
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