“Here Is Your First $100 Million Senate Race”

Paul Blumenthal for HuffPo:

However, in terms of how money has been raised and spent, the 2000 New York and 2014 North Carolina races couldn’t be more different. Where Clinton and Lazio spent a combined $70.5 million raised in strictly limited amounts from their own campaign coffers, the Hagan and Tillis campaigns had spent just $30 million through Oct. 15.

The rest of the money spent in North Carolina — indeed, the vast majority of it — has come from political party committees ($19 million) and from independent groups like super PACs and nonprofits that can raise unlimited sums from nearly any source ($62 million).

This dynamic is not unique to the North Carolina Senate race. There are 35 other congressional races where the general election candidates had been outspent by independent money through Oct. 15, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. In some of these races the candidates may ultimately surpass the expenditures of outside spenders, but for the most part those actually running for office will likely have to make way for a flood of other interests.

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