NC FreeEnterprise Foundation released a detailed, 10-page report analyzing the state Senate elections for 2012. It begins: “When Democrats held a majority in the North Carolina Senate, they routinely and significantly out-raised their Republican counterparts and wielded their financial advantage to frequently win hotly contested races in competitive districts and to ultimately maintain power. That all changed in 2010, when the GOP took control of the chamber for the first time in well over 100 years. What did not change was the general playbook the majority (now Republicans) used to defend and even extend their advantage in the Senate – raising and spending large sums of money. . . .
“All told, Republican Senate candidates who made it to the 2012 General Election raised just over $11.3 million and spent more than $7 million. Democratic Senate candidates in the General Election raised a total of just $3.7 million and spent less than $2.9 million. Cumulatively, this translates into a 3-to-1 GOP fundraising advantage and a 2.5-to-1 GOP spending advantage in 2012.” The report includes an analysis of several important state Senate races in 2012, a chart of big spending by outside groups, and a contest-by-contest breakdown of each Senate candidate’s total money raised, expenses, transfers to others, net loans and cash on hand.
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