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The other day, a host on MSNBC asked me if Donald J. Trump had a good enough campaign operation to win in Nevada. One thing Mr. Trump had going for him, I pointed out, was that he was very good at getting the news media to give him free airtime.

“Every time he opens his mouth, he’s on national TV, telling jokes and giving his message — so he’s saved himself tens of millions of dollars doing that,” I said. Almost as soon as I finished making my point, the network demonstrated it by cutting to a Trump rally in Atlanta.

Such is the unusual world of Mr. Trump’s political finances. As a reporter who covers campaign finance, I spend my days trying to figure out where the money is. But Mr. Trump presents a different sort of challenge: Not so much where the money is, but where the money isn’t.

The only person who has spent less money running for president than Mr. Trump — and who hasn’t yet stopped running for president — is John Kasich. This is partly because Mr. Trump was famous in his own right before he plunged into the 2016 race. It is also partly because many of Mr. Trump’s campaign expenses, such as rides on his own private jets and helicopters, or borrowing aides from his real estate empire, get paid out to his own companies.

But even beyond that, it is because Mr. Trump doesn’t spend much on television ads, usually the single most expensive budget item for a modern presidential campaign. Instead, Mr. Trump garners what political hacks call “earned media.” He holds big rallies, says provocative things that his audience adores — “I’d like to punch him in the face,” Mr. Trump said of a heckler at his event in Nevada on Monday — and reaps of a wave of news coverage in newspapers and on television. This dynamic has earned the scorn of Trump-haters on the right and left, who have taken to blaming the news media for enabling Mr. Trump’s rise.

Mr. Trump is undeniably a showman. Unlike virtually all of his competitors, who repeat the same stump speech in the hopes of getting a poll-tested message across, Mr. Trump always surprises. And when he does get on camera, Mr. Trump often filibusters, as when a planned introduction of Sarah Palin, who endorsed him on national television last month, stretched into a lengthy monologue. (Ms. Palin, no slouch in the earned-media department, then proceeded to “trump” Mr. Trump, with a 20-minute riff on “squirmishes” and “proud clingers.”)

Just how effective is it? Mr. Trump won the Nevada caucuses on Tuesday. Now, according to a tally published this week by NBC News, three of his Republican rivals — Mr. Kasich, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz — are spending a combined $1.5 million on television ads in the 11 states holding primaries or caucuses on March 1, known as Super Tuesday.

Mr. Trump’s bill?

Zero.