A bit of interesting info about political advertising this election.

More than half a billion dollars has been spent total on ads and Republican groups are spending far more than Democrats. Most of that Republican money isn’t even coming from the Mitt Romney campaign.

From the Washington Post:

As of Friday evening, Republicans had spent $314 million on ads with Romney accounting for just 27 percent ($86 million) of that total. Democrats had spent $277 million on ads with Obama accounting for 80 percent ($222 million) of that total.

To put those big numbers in simpler terms: Only one in every four Republican/conservative ads that has run this election cycle has been paid for by Romney while four in every five Democratic ads have been funded directly by the Obama campaign.

The Post lists a couple reasons for the discrepancy. One is that President Obama has discouraged outside spending, thus his supporters have been reluctant to donate to them.

It also helps that voter enthusiasm is higher among Republicans.

[Washington Post]