Campaign spending zooms to record $5.3B

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- Campaigns to elect the next U.S. president and members of Congress are on pace to hit a whopping $5.3 billion, a non-profit political watchdog reported.

But while campaign spending reported by the Center for Responsive Politics may be eye-popping, it is still less than other spending, such as the nearly $6 billion the Retail Federation estimates U.S. residents will shell out for Halloween, USA Today reported Thursday.

"This (campaign spending) is a relatively small investment when you consider all the things that are far less important but on which we spend far more money," said Sheila Krumholz, executive director for Center for Responsive Politics. "But in terms of political finance, these numbers are staggering."

Other trends the center reported include:

-- Employees in finance, insurance and real estate companies dominated political giving, contributing more

than $370 million.

-- Democrats are on track to collect nearly $6 of every $10 raised by the two major political parties.

-- Third-party political groups, known as 527s for the section of the tax code that regulates them, collectively reported $424 million in fundraising to the IRS, a 12 decrease decrease from 2004.