Obama Outspending McCain On TV

As he was opening up a lead over his rival in the polls, Barack Obama was outspending John McCain on television advertising three-to-one, according to the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza.

"From Sept. 30 to Oct. 6, Obama spent more than $20 million on television ads in 17 states including more than $3 million in Pennsylvania and more than $2 million each in Florida, Michigan and Ohio," he writes. "McCain in that same time frame spent just $7.2 million in 15 states. Even when the Republican National Committee's independent expenditure spending in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin is factored in (a total of $5.3 million), Obama still outspent the combined GOP forces by roughly $8 million in the last week alone."

Obama chose to forgo public financing in the general election, opting instead to rely on his unprecedented fundraising machine, which in August brought in more than $67 million. His rival opted for public financing, which meant that he received $84 million to spend from his official nomination at the beginning of September to Election Day. McCain cannot raise additional funds, though the RNC can raise money and advertise on McCain's behalf.

As Cillizza notes, in some of the states where Obama has seen a recent surge in the polls – most notably, Florida and North Carolina – he has massively outspent his Republican rival. In Florida alone, Obama recently outspent McCain on television ads by $2.2 million.