By Katy Bachman, Adweek on March 8, 2012

If it weren’t for the candidates' PACs, Super Tuesday spending would have been a trickle. A whopping 87 percent of the $6.1 million spent on spot TV during the last week (Feb. 27 to March 4) leading up to the 10 primaries, was PAC money, according to a TVB analysis of Campaign Media Analysis Group data.

Only two of the GOP Presidential hopefuls, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul, spent their own money.

Both Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum relied on their PACs for their TV ad exposure. PACs funded all races in Tennessee, Alaska, Oklahoma and Georgia.

About $10.5 million was spent year-to-date on TV in the 10

Super Tuesday states with 60 percent of it funding spots in the days leading up to the election day. 

"Spot TV advertising was lackluster," said Jack Poor, vp of strategic planning for TVB. "It didn't break the way we thought it would. It's still going to be a tremendous year, but it won't start until after the conventions."

Candidate spending was targeted and heavily concentrated. About 40 percent of political dollars was spent in Ohio, where Romney outspent the combined budgets of Gingrich and Santorum 4 to 1. Virginia, North Dakota, and Massachusetts didn't get a dime. In Massachusetts and Virginia, Romney was a slam-dunk. In North Dakota, Santorum was a lock.

Even though Santorum won Oklahoma, he spent no money there.

"It's a strange place we're in because funding is so uneven," said Kathleen Keefe, vp of sales for Hearst Television, which has stations in Cincinnati, Boston, and Oklahoma City. "Money is very contained over eight or nine days and it comes in very last minute, some of it the night before. It's very last minute. The whole season has been like this."

Source: TVB analysis of Kantar Media Campaign Media Analysis Group data Dec. 26, 2011 to March 4, 2012       

Source: TVB analysis of Kantar Media Campaign Media Analysis Group data Dec. 26, 2011 to March 4, 2012 

View the original Adweek article online.