``The two logical questions then are where does all this money get spent and what are the effects of this spending on elections and the political system? The short answer to the first question is known by all participants in and observers of American elections: the majority of the money goes to political advertising, and within political advertising the vast majority goes to television ads. The percentage of campaign spending that goes to TV ads has increased sharply over the past forty years. If there is a rule it is that the closer a race, the more money will be spent on the campaigns, and the higher the proportion that will go to paid TV political advertisements. "We spent the vast majority of our money last time on broadcast television," Obama campaign advisor David Axelrod told attendees at a 2011 cable convention. "It's still the nuclear weapon."1 This year, according to a fresh report to investors from Needham and Company's industry analysts, television stations will reap as much as $5 billion-up from $2.8 billion in 2008.''
http://monthlyreview.org/2012/04/01/the-bull-market
This is a long article that tells the obvious, but the detail, studies, and commentary really flesh out the grim picture. There are a lot of useful stats, and historical comparison. It promises what we should already know, 2012 will be the most expensive, negative, content free, but profitable campaign season on record.
It will be interesting to watch the interactions between the media and political establishment and the hopeful re-emergence of the Occupy movements.
CG