Dem
51
GOP
49
Where is the presidential campaign being fought? Long-time readers of this site can probably name the half-dozen or so swing states without batting an eyelash. But are all swing states equal, or are some swing states more equal? And how do the campaigns view this? To find out, just follow the money. Campaign spending shows the campaigns' priorities with crystal clarity.
Here are the spending totals for both Joe Biden and Donald Trump in the swing states, including both actual spending from the campaigns and money from allied (super) PACs:
There are a couple of clear takeaways from these charts. First, both parties see Pennsylvania as the keystone state [sic], with the Republicans seeing it more important than all the other swing states combined (and probably more important than all 49 other states combined). They clearly believe that if Biden wins Pennsylvania, the show is over. This makes some sense since it has more electoral votes than any other swing state. The Democrats see it as important, too, but they also see Michigan as important, possibly due to the 2% of the Michigan population that is Muslim and is unhappy with Biden on account of Gaza. They may not have heard of Trump's plans to deport foreign students who are demonstrating for the Palestinians or Jared Kushner's plans to remove all the Gazans so he can develop Gaza into Miami Beach East. The ads may help fill in this information vacuum.
A second thing to note about the charts is that so far, the Democrats are greatly outspending the Republicans, largely because they have more money. Total Democratic spending is $49 million vs. $22 million for Republicans. The recent GOP haul may change this imbalance in the coming months, though.
A third thing to note is that Trump's campaign hasn't spent a dime yet. All the Republican spending is from outside groups. The reason here is not so much that Trump is a penny pincher, but that a large amount of the incoming money is being funneled to the lawyers defending Trump in his various trials. When Trump sends out appeals for funding, he is careful that the embedded links go to organizations that can legally spend the money defending him, rather than running ads or organizing GOTV efforts.
A fourth thing is that the Republicans have spent a mere $666,000 on Arizona, Nevada, and North Carolina combined. This seems odd to us. The first two are definitely in play and the third one is likely to be in play, especially with the hot gubernatorial race between fiery, all-around bigot Mark Robinson (R) and mild-mannered AG Josh Stein (D). That race is very close and could easily have coattails for the presidential race. (V)