Review: 15-To-1 Spending Advantage Netted Romney Two Third-Place Showings

Mitt Romney and the superPAC supporting him spent more than 15 times as much as Rick Santorum and the superPAC backing him on television ads in Alabama and Mississippi, according to an NPR analysis of data collected by Kantar Media's CMAG unit and reported by the Washington Post.

Santorum won both primaries on Tuesday; Romney finished third in both states.

In the four weeks leading up to Tuesday's election, Romney and the pro-Romney Restore our Future superPAC spent $3.4 million on ads running in Alabama and Mississippi. The ads primarily attacked Santorum.

Santorum's campaign itself spent nothing on television ads in the two states. The superPAC that supports Santorum, the Red White and Blue Fund, spent $220,800.

Newt Gingrich and the superPAC supporting him — Winning Our Future — spent $639,270 in advertising. Gingrich placed second in both primaries on Tuesday.

Taken as a whole, superPACs supporting Romney, Santorum and Gingrich outspent the candidates themselves 20 to 1 in Alabama and Mississippi. The superPACs spent $4,075,090. The candidates spent a total of $200,030.

S.V. Dáte is the NPR Washington Desk's congressional editor.