Bush Hemorrhaging Green

George W. Bush is spending more to win primary votes than any candidate ever. Of the unprecedented $70 million he's raised, he's spent a staggering $50 million already, reports CBS News Correspondent Bill Whitaker. Republican rival John Mccain has spent about half as much.

"We've got a plan in place that's going to enable me to stay in the race for the long run," says Bush.

To put it in perspective, Bob Dole, the previous spending champ, forked out about $40 million for all the primaries. Bush has spent $10 million more already and isn't yet through the second major primary test. And the costly, big state primaries California, New York, Texas - lie ahead.

"I think that Governor Bush's place in the Guinness Book of Records is secure," says McCain. "We've never seen the kind of spending like that in any other political campaign. I believe we can still win the battle of ideas, even if we're badly losing the battle of the bucks."

Against this backdrop, a CBS News/New York Times poll out Wednesday suggests Bush has a strong lead over McCain among the nation's Republican primary voters. But McCain has the edge among those paying the most attention to the campaign. Among Democrats, Al Gore may be pulling away from Bill Bradley.

The Bush camp acknowledges that most of the money - about 30 percent through last year has gone for TV ads. And with the ad blitz now going full force in South Carolina, and commercials already airing in upcoming primary states, that figure is on the rise.

"We are putting in place a strategy for him to win the Republican nomination," says Bush spokeswoman Karen Hughes. "A lot of these are expenditures that won't be replicated; they're investments in helping Governor Bush earn the nomination as we get to states down the road."

It seems the Bush strategy is to spend a huge amount of money early on to knock McCain out of the race, because not even Bush can afford this kind of saturation TV campaign in the big states down the road. If that strategy doesn't work, they'll be running out of money and into big trouble.