Campaign Finance Numbers
In 2008—the last presidential election year—candidates for office, political parties, and independent groups spent a total of $5.3 billion on federal elections. The amount spent on the presidential race alone was $2.4 billion, and over $1 billion of that was spent by the campaigns of the two major candidates: Barack Obama spent $730 million in his election campaign, and John McCain spent $333 million.
In the 2010 midterm election cycle, candidates for office, political parties, and independent groups spent a total of $3.6 billion on federal elections. The average winner of a seat in the House of Representatives spent $1.4 million on his or her campaign. The average winner of a Senate seat spent $9.8 million.
The money for campaigns for federal office comes from four broad categories of sources: (1) small individual contributors (individuals who contribute $200 or less), (2) large individual contributors (individuals who contribute more than $200), (3) political action committees, and (4) self-financing (the candidate's own money). In the 2010 Congressional races, the sources of campaign contributions broke down as follows:
| Small Individual Contributors | Large Individual Contributors | Political Action Committees | Self-Financing | Other | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| House Democrats | 9% | 47% | 38% | 3% | 3% |
| House Republicans | 14% | 48% | 24% | 12% | 3% |
| Senate Democrats | 12% | 53% | 15% | 12% | 8% |
| Senate Republicans | 18% | 42% | 12% | 20% | 8% |
Read more about this topic: Campaign Finance In The United States
Famous quotes containing the words campaign, finance and/or numbers:
“The winter is to a woman of fashion what, of yore, a campaign was to the soldiers of the Empire.”
—Honoré De Balzac (1799–1850)
“A bank is a confidence trick. If you put up the right signs, the wizards of finance themselves will come in and ask you to take their money.”
—Christina Stead (1902–1983)
“The land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it.”
—Bible: Hebrew Numbers 35:33.