Pa nears ad record

It's looking like the ad spending this campaign could set a Pa record, reports Boris Krawczeniukin the Scranton Times-Tribune :

A flood of money from outside groups combined with a full slate of competitive state and local races makes it probable the 2010 election campaign shattered what once looked like an untouchable record for spending on political advertising on local television channels.

With the final figures for many campaigns still uncounted, 60 candidates, issues groups and political party campaign arms have combined to spend more than $18.1 million on more than 65,000 commercials, according to records at local stations and Comcast Corp.

. . .  The totals do not yet reflect the final week of spending by the candidates for governor and U.S. Senate and many other groups, which could not be compiled in time for this story.

The record of almost $20.9 million and more than 109,000 commercials was set in 2008 when Barack Obama ran for president and spent more than $3.9 million himself on local television alone. That year, nine candidates and political party-related committees of the 45 that bought air time spent more than $1 million. A total of 24 groups spent more than $100,000.