On air, it's Obama vs. Paul

As the political world girds for a general election match-up between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, the airwaves are telling a different story: going by TV ads alone, you might think the campaign was between the president and Ron Paul.

That's because Mitt Romney pulled down his commercials after Rick Santorum dropped out of the Republican primary and Newt Gingrich can't afford to spend money on paid media. That leaves only Paul shelling out cash on the Republican side, as Obama airs TV ads targeting Hispanic voters in several states.

Paul is spending about $110,000 on commercials right now: $40,000 in Rhode Island, which holds its primary on Tuesday, and just under $71,000 on ads in Texas running April 23-29. He has already been up in Texas for days.

Even some of Paul's most die-hard supporters have begun to come around to the reality that this is probably the year he'll win the Republican presidential nomination, but as long as some of those activists keep donating to the campaign, Paul may be able to maintain a baseline-level presence on TV.