Obama-Biden & Romney-Ryan Will Each Raise $1B

This week came the news that both the Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns will raise more than $1 billion each

From the beginning of 2011 through Oct. 17, Mr. Obama and the Democrats raised about $1.06 billion, and Mr. Romney and the Republicans collected $954 million, including some money for the party’s Congressional efforts, setting up 2012 to be the most expensive presidential campaign in history.

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Mr. Romney and the Republicans raised about $21.3 million more than Mr. Obama and the Democrats during the first 17 days of October, according to the disclosures filed on Thursday, as Mr. Romney rose in the polls and performed well in debates, emboldening his supporters.

Mr. Obama and the Democratic National Committee took in $92.4 million during that period, after surpassing Mr. Romney in August and September.

Mr. Romney and the R.N.C. raised $113.7 million over the same period, the final days for which the campaigns are required to report their fund-raising before the election on Nov. 6. Mr. Romney and his party also spent about $146.2 million during the first 17 days in October, slightly less than the $149.7 million spent by Mr. Obama and the Democrats.

While Mr. Obama’s team invested tens of millions of dollars early in the campaign to identify, contact and raise money from grass-roots voters, those expenditures have left the Republicans with more cash in the final weeks of the election that could finance a late surge of advertising. Mr. Romney and the G.O.P. ended the final filing period with $169 million in cash on hand, significantly more than the $123.8 million held by Mr. Obama and the Democrats.

Earlier in the year the Republicans were claiming that Obama-Biden would raise $1 billion dollars and the Blue team, demurred, not wanting to get caught up in an expectations game. They responded by saying that if you count Super-Pacs then the Red team would spend more money on the 2012 elections than the Democrats. It looks like both sides exceeded their expectations for how much they could raise.

The Republicans have $45 million more to spend than the Democrats on the presidential race as of October 17th.

There are now 9 days until the election. Are you looking forward to the whole thing being over as soon as possible as I am?