File for Future Reference

Here are three pretty much unrelated political facts that may really surprise you and are definitely worth keeping in mind. First, according to Democratic strategist Doug Sosnik, a former Clinton White House political director and one of the smartest guys in town, of the $896 million spent on television advertising in the 2012 presidential general election, $474 million (53 percent) was spent in just three states: Florida ($173 million), Virginia ($151 million), and Ohio ($150 million). North Carolina took fourth place ($97 million); behind it came Colorado ($73 million), Iowa ($57 million), and Nevada ($55 million). Those seven states saw $756 million, or 84 percent, of the total spent on presidential general-election TV ads. (Sosnik derived these numbers from Kantar Media / CMAG figures as well as from an online Washington Post piece from last fall.) Sosnik's numbers remind me of all the times I've heard my good friend and competitor Stu Rothenberg say to audiences, "For those of you who don't live in the following states"—and then he lists the top seven or eight swing states before continuing—"I know you are