Wisconsin: Wisconsin Democracy Campaign breaks down campaign spending; 69% of independent expenditures were for negative ads

New detailed report from the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign -- $68.8 million of spending in the 2011 and 2012 recalls were paid to out-of-state vendors. This is from the $101 million spent by candidates and interest groups. It does not include the estimated $31.3 million spent by "phony issue ad" groups, which could keep their fundraising and spending secret.

One big caveat on the $68.8 million figure -- a lot of that money came back into the state, because it was spent on TV and radio ads:

More than half of the total candidate and group spending – about $56.1 million – was used for television and radio ads so a substantial portion of the money paid to out-of-state outfits to produce and place those ads came back to the Wisconsin media outlets that aired them.

The report has a nice, detailed breakdown of the spending, including a look at the "accentuate the negative" angle of the campaign:

...69 percent, or $30.6 million, of the total spent by independent expenditure groups was for negative broadcast ads, mailings and other electioneering activities and $13.9 million or 31 percent was spent to support a candidate.