$150 Million

The Dispatch is reporting that's the amount of money spent on TV ads and GOTV campaigns in Ohio during the 2004 election season.

At first glance, a new study of the 2004 presidential election tells Ohioans what they already know quite well: Their state got attention like no other.

But "The Battle for Ohio" lays out in unprecedented detail the intense struggle for votes in the Buckeye State.

One figure that leaps from the study is $100 million. That’s the total spent on TV ads in Ohio.

How big is that?

It equals the nationwide total spent by George W. Bush to win the 2000 Republican nomination — not just TV ads, but everything.

Another $50 million is estimated to have been spent on get out the vote activities such as mailings, door to door contact, phone calls, etc. Among the other statistics:

• Republicans made about 2.2 million phone calls and knocked on 339,000 doors before the final weekend of the campaign, when an additional 1.8 million calls and 761,000 home visits were made as part of the GOP’s 72 Hour Task Force.

• Democrats reported about 1.3 million calls and 200,000 home visits.

• One of the Democratic Party’s liberal allies, Americans Coming Together, knocked on 3.7 million doors and made "hundreds of thousands" of telephone and mail contacts. And organized labor knocked on 2 million doors and handed out more than 6 million fliers at work sites.

• The GOP sent 3.5 million pieces of mail to Ohio voters.

Ohio has a total population of 11.4 million. On election night, 5.6 million people voted.

That means $13.15 was spent for every man, woman, and child in Ohio

If you look at those who actually cast a ballot, $28.78 was spent per voter.