I’m sure many of you have heard of this site before, but it was new to me.  OpenSecrets.org is a site that allows you to see what the President, members of Congress and political groups spent on their campaigns.  You can search by candidate, party, state, etc. 

Here are some numbers from the 2004 election overview:

Amount raised for House candidates: $696,293,352
Amount raised for Senate candidates: $488,899,357
Amount raised for Presidential candidates: $867,856,427
Total raised: $2,053,049,136

It’s just mind boggling.