2012 election priciest to date: $4.2 billion tab and rising

Estimates show the election could cost at least $4.2 billion, and others say it could reach $6 billion. That's a record. So where did all this money go? The FEC, which tracks election spending, shows that most of campaign money, by far, goes to framing how voters see a candidate. It buys television ads, on-line image campaigns, direct-mail outreach and those phone banks used to call prospective voters. The focus on battleground states this year brought big paydays to companies in Ohio, Florida, Nevada, Colorado, Wisconsin, Virginia and Iowa. Local television and radio stations in those markets did exceptionally well. Caterers, rental spaces, lighting and production companies, and printing presses saw revenue skyrocket from having so many campaigners in their own backyards. The biggest expense for both camps was still broadcast advertising. "Despite all the declarations that everything is going on the Internet, the biggest industry beneficiary of campaign spending is any business that works with broadcast media," said David M. Mason, a former FEC chair who now helps mostly Republican-related campaigns comply with federal and state regulatory requirements. "It's always been advertising for as long as we've really had good data on election spending."