"Hey, Rick? $10,000 says my Super PAC will still kick your Super PAC's ass." —Mitt Romney
Check out these number on Super PAC spending over the last two weeks:
All spending:
• Mitt Romney Super PAC: $8.9 million
• Newt Gingrich Super PAC: $4.2 million
• Rick Santorum Super PAC: $1.8 million
Spending primarily focused on negative attacks:
• Mitt Romney Super PAC: $8.8 million
• Rick Santorum Super PAC: $0
• Newt Gingrich Super PAC: $0
Spending including any sort of negative attack:
• Mitt Romney Super PAC: $8.9 million
• Rick Santorum Super PAC: $0.8 million
• Newt Gingrich Super PAC: $0
For those keeping score at home, Mitt Romney's Super PAC outspent Rick Santorum's by five to one margin overall—and by an eleven to one margin on ads including any sort of attack. As for ads primarily intended as attacks? It was a complete shutout.
That's makes it a little more obvious how Mitt Romney manages to keep on coming back, doesn't it?
(Mitt Romney's Super PAC is Restore Our Future, Newt Gingrich's is Winning Our Future, and Rick Santorum's is The Red, White, and Blue Fund. Data source: Center for Responsive Politics)