The $1.8 Billion Election

Thanks in part to Barack Obama's record-setting fundraising total of $745.7 million, financial activity in the 2008 election increased 80 percent from 2004 for a total of over $1.8 billion, according to the Federal Election Commission.
That's measured by the fundraising totals of Obama, McCain, and the national party convention committees--counting the $84.1 million in federal money McCain received under the public funding program and the $16.8 million the government shelled out for the Democratic and Republican conventions.

See a .pdf of the spending breakdown here.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2009/06/the-18-billion-election/18960/