Obama spends nearly $130 million on campaign advertisements

President Barack Obama's re-election campaign has spent nearly US$100 million (S$130 million) on television commercials in key battleground states so far, unleashing a sustained early barrage designed to create lasting, negative impressions of Republican Mitt Romney before he and his allies ramp up for the November election.
The United States (US) president is chosen from state-by-state contests, rather than a nationwide popular vote. So battleground states - which are neither reliably Republican nor Democratic - are very important in tight elections, as this year's presidential vote is expected to be.
Reflecting campaign strategy, more than one-fifth of the president's advertising spending has been in Ohio, a state that looms as a must-win for Mr Romney more so than for Mr Obama. Florida ranks second and Virginia third, according to organisations that track media spending and other sources.
About three-quarters of the president's advertising has been critical of Mr Romney as Mr Obama struggles to turn the election into a choice between himself and his rival, rather than a referendum on his own handling of the weak economy.