After the New Hampshire primary, multiple candidates began running their first significant ad campaigns in Nevada, which caucuses on Feb. 22, and South Carolina, which votes on Feb. 29. Total spending in both states jumped to $4.5 million from $2.5 million the week before.

And with many campaigns now strapped for cash as they head toward Super Tuesday on March 3, their messaging and the money they can put behind it may foreshadow who will be a force in a national campaign and who will run into a wall.

“While there has been some campaigning in Nevada, the voters aren’t nearly as tuned in as Iowa and New Hampshire, so it is very important to get campaign messages in front of voters,” said Kelly Gibson, a Democratic media strategist who advised the campaigns of Andrew Yang and Julián Castro.

“The flip side of that,” she said, is “many voters are still making up their minds, so the ads can have more immediate effectiveness.”

Obama, Clyburn and appeals to black voters in South Carolina

A majority of South Carolina’s Democratic voters are black, and campaigns have been tailoring their pitches to appeal to them.