One of the ways the left has been explaining Scott Walker's victory in the Wisconsin recall election is by claiming that Walker outspent his opponent by a 7 to one margin. Hot Air does a helpful job of debunking that claim, pointing to a Washington Post graphic that covers spending through May 21 and says that pro-Republican groups spent $16.3 million on the election while pro-Democratic groups spent $17.9 million.
That doesn't cover spending by the candidates themselves, where Governor Walker had a significant edge, but it does tend to undercut the contention that the independent spending supposedly unleashed by the Citizens United Supreme Court decision was the deciding factor in the Republicans' favor in the race.
The Post shows Walker and his allies outspending the Democratic candidate and his allies, $45.6 million to $20.8 million, which is still a big Republican money advantage, but not 7 to one. If the public employees couldn't win with $20.8 million to get their message out in a state the size of Wisconsin, one begins to wonder if the problem wasn't the money but the message. At a certain point, all the voters have seen all the commercials and read all the direct mail pieces, and the deciding factor is going to be the arguments in the commercial, not that the Republican commercial aired 45 times and the Democratic commercial aired 20 times.
