There’s a danger in focusing too much on the “theme of the day” when looking at information about politics and campaigns.

In the campaign finance arena this year that theme has clearly been the role of outside spending, and some have suggested that we’re making too much of something that has been happening in different forms for many years. But a quick look at the numbers overall, and just in the month of August, drive home why this has been such an important story.

Our running total of outside spending shows the extraordinary growth we’ve seen so far in 2012, with independent expenditures topping $280 million (not counting parties) — that’s nearly three times the total for all outside spending at this point in 2008.

In fact, we’ve now almost reached the total for all outside spending in the full 2008 and 2010 campaigns before we’ve even gotten to the traditional start of the general election — the period following the conventions, when the candidates, fresh off being formally inaugurated as their parties’ nominees, set out on the trail for 10 or so weeks of straight campaigning before the American people (see graphic below).

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href=”#”&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;img alt=”Outside Spending By Cycle ” src=”http:&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#47;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#47;public.tableausoftware.com&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#47;static&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#47;images&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#47;Ou&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#47;OutsideSpendingByCycle&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#47;Dashboard1&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#47;1_rss.png” style=”border: none” /&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

While outside spending has been a factor the entire election cycle, the pace of spending actually accelerated in August with about $88 million in independent expenditures reported to the Federal Election Commission so far this month, through August 29th.

This is partly explained by the fact that “issue ads” that were able to avoid any disclosure before this month must now be reported as either independent expenditures or electioneering communications if they make reference to candidates. But that doesn’t totally explain it. In August of 2008, with the same disclosure rules but more restrictions on sources of funds for this spending, groups only reported about $24 million in independent expenditures and $11 million in electioneering communications.



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About The Author Prior to joining the Center in 2011, Bob spent thirty years on the Staff of the U.S. Federal Election Commission, developing and promoting disclosure. He has served as the Commission's Statistician, its Press Officer, and as a special assistant working to redesign the disclosure process. A graduate of Marquette University and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Bob has written extensively on campaign finance, political parties, and interest groups, and is co-editor of <i>After the Revolution: PACs Lobbies, and the Republican Congress, and Risky Business?: PAC Decision-making in Congressional Elections</i>. You can follow Bob on Twitter at @rbiersack Follow Bob Biersack

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