Westly spends $7.2 million on TV related costs

The Westly campaign filed their expenditure reports with the secretary of state too late yesterday to make most of today's papers. But a quick glance through shows that Westly spent $7.2 million on what is categorized as "T.V. OR CABLE AIRTIME AND PRODUCTION COSTS". The LA Times' Dan Morain takes a look at the rest of the reports. Schwarzenegger showed his fundraising prowess, receiving significantly more money than his Democratic rivals. He raised $5.2 million between Jan. 1 and Friday. That sum was sufficient to place his reelection campaign $3 million in the black. He had started the year $410,000 in debt. State Treasurer Phil Angelides, seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, raised $2.3 million during that period. Democratic state Controller Steve Westly raised $1.1 million. Also, $2.5 million came from his own wallet. Westly, who made a fortune at EBay, has spent nearly $26 million of his own money so far on his campaign. Angelides, also a millionaire, though not nearly as wealthy as Westly, has spent about $17,000 of his own funds on his gubernatorial run. Both men, seeking to establish themselves with voters, spent heavily in recent weeks — Angelides nearly $6 million, including $4.3 million to buy airtime for TV ads, and Westly, $6.3 million. Two hours before the midnight filing deadline, Westly had not filed a full report detailing, for example, the amount he spent on television advertising. Angelides had $14.5 million in his political bank account as of March 17. Westly had $23 million.