3 GOP Hopefuls Have Spent a Quarter-Billion Dollars

The Chamber of Commerce and Public-Employees Union have got nothing on three Republican candidates when it comes to campaign spending: Meg Whitman, Rick Scott, and Linda McMahon have spent more than the two groups combined—a staggering $243 million. What makes that figure even more gobsmacking is not just the fact that the cash has come from their own pockets, but the fact that none of them are actually ahead in the polls. Politico reports:

• Whitman has spent $141.6 million of her own money to date. One poll this week has her trailing Jerry Brown by 8 points; a GOP survey has the two tied.
• Scott has dumped $60 million of personal and family money into his Florida gubernatorial bid; most polls show the race between him and Alex Sink too close to call.
• McMahon has ponied up $41.5 million, more than twice what Whitman has spent per voter. A recent survey has her 18 percentage points behind Richard Blumenthal.

Politico notes that spending too much money could be a bad thing. A Quinnipiac University poll found that 95% of likely voters had seen McMahon's ads ... but 56% thought they were annoying. “A lot of people are oversaturated,” said one Republican. “They’ve heard everything there is to hear and more, 20 times over.”

(More Meg Whitman stories.)