S presidential rivals George Bush and John Kerry have spent more than $600 million on TV and radio ads in the run-up to the elections, making this the most expensive campaign in American political history. The two candidates and their supporters have spent three times as much as in 2000 when Senator Al Gore narrowly lost the presidency to Mr Bush.

The campaigns of pressure groups such as the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth alongside the ad blitz by the Democrats and Republicans have taken the total spending to over $1billion since the start of the year, according to US tracking group TNS Media Intelligence. Liberal groups have poured around $70m into ads backing Kerry, while Republican groups spent just $40m.... more