Two presidential superPACs are rocketing out of Super Tuesday with big ad buys. Restore Our Future, supporting Mitt Romney, tells the Federal Election Commission it's spending nearly $2.8 million in four states: Alabama and Mississippi, which have primaries Tuesday, plus Illinois and Louisiana, which vote a week later.
Restore Our Future reported that the expenditures included direct mail and phone banking. But 94 percent of the money is going to TV stations, to put ads on the air.
And the Red, White and Blue Fund, the superPAC backing Rick Santorum, is rolling out a somewhat smaller ad push: between $500,000 and $600,000, according to Stuart Roy, an adviser to the superPAC. He says the money will buy ads in Alabama and Mississippi.
The superPAC's new ad argues that Romney and third candidate Newt Gingrich are too much like President Obama, and that Santorum is the only true alternative for conservatives. The Red, White and Blue Fund yesterday called on Gingrich to drop out of the race.
The Romney campaign announced today that it raised $11.5 million in February, with $7.3 million cash on hand. That's a slightly lower reserve than it had a month ago, before the costly battles in Michigan, Arizona and the Super Tuesday states.
Santorum's campaign says it raised more than $9 million last month. The February monthly reports are due at the FEC March 20.
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