For convenience, STATES, TERRITORIES, and STATES_AND_TERRITORIES can be accessed directly from the us module: >>> us.states.STATES [<State:Alabama>, <State:Alaska>, <State:Arizona>, <State:Arkansas>,... >>> us.STATES [<State:Alabama>, <State:Alaska>, <State:Arizona>, <State:Arkansas>,...
WITH nearly every American election cycle new spending records are broken. This autumn's midterm elections are nearly nine months away, but already candidates in Kentucky's Senate race have raised $19.4m and spent $7.3m. In the 2012 cycle candidates in the Massachusetts Senate race alone spent over $85m. That is small change compared with that year's presidential contest, in which $2 billion was spent (the total cost of the 2012 elections, including congressional races, topped $7 billion).
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce was expected to spend almost $50 million on elections in 2014 and endorsed Republican Jack Kingston. More than $4.6 million has been spent on advertising in the Georgia race by outside groups so far. In 2008, outside groups spent more than $20 million in the Georgia Senate race.