U.S. presidential candidates have spent some $50 million (25.2 million pounds) and aired more than 100,000 TV ads since the start of the general election campaign in early June, far outpacing the rate of the 2004 campaign, a report showed on Wednesday.
Democratic candidate Barack Obama spent $27 million between June 4 and July 26, while Republican candidate John McCain spent just over $21 million, the University of Wisconsin Advertising Project, which monitors political ad spending, said in its report.