Billions of dollars spent during the campaign

CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) - This election cycle, candidates shelled out six billion dollars in campaigning. That is $700 million more than what was spent in 2008.

All told, the Obama campaign raised more than $632 million during the 2012 election season, compared to Romney campaign's $389 million.

Andrew Banus of Russell told 22News, “That's part of the game and part of a free society if people want to spend their money on getting elected, I think that's fine, and they should be able to do that."

According to Gary Midura of Westfield, "When you get into raising that kind of money and the kind of deals that are made to reach that level is not for the everyday man.”

Here in Massachusetts, the race between Warren and Brown was also the most expensive on state history.