CHICAGO (AP) — With Republicans locked in a contentious and expensive primary, President Barack Obama has spent a small fortune in recent months to build and maintain a campaign operation that is larger, more diverse and more focused on November's general election than any of his opponents' organizations.
Republican contenders like Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have surely been watching their expenses during their primary elections: millions here for ad spending, millions there for travel, rallies and consulting fees. What's left keeps the lights on, the phones ringing and the staff paid.
But Obama, who faces no serious challenger for the Democratic nomination, has sunk his cash into an expansive brick-and-mortar operation with offices in nearly every state.
His campaign has spent more than $135 million on operations through February, according to an Associated Press analysis of Federal Election Commission records.
That's about $3 million more than all his GOP challengers combined.
I wonder if any sitting president has ever spent this much in the past, must be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, that we are not aware of. And, the campaign has not started yet, or has it?
