campaign Spending
Indeed, these expenditures have exploded over the last several presidential election cycles. In 1992 total spending by all presidential candidates came to a little over $192 million. Eight years later, in 2000, they had grown to more than $343 million. So far in 2008, all candidates that have been running for this highest office had spent almost $834 million, practically a two-and-a-half fold increase since the last presidential race – and this year's campaign still has several months to go!
So far this year, all of the presidential contenders combined have spent the equivalent of .06 percent of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product in trying to win the brass ring to the White House. This means that we are that much poorer in terms of real goods and services that might have been produced if that $834 million had been used in private-sector business activity geared toward consumer demand instead.
To win the Democratic Party nomination, Barack Obama has spent, through June 2008, over $267 million, with an additional $71.6 million in cash on hand. His leading opponent in the primaries, Hillary Clinton, spent more than $233 million.
Over on the Republican side, John McCain expended almost $110 million to win his party's candidacy, and had $35.6 million available in cash at the end of June. McCain's closest rival in the primaries, Mitt Romney, spent $107 million in his unsuccessful bid for the nomination, with $35.4 million coming out of his own pocket.
