PAC Men

If you’d read through as many campaign finance reports and media contracts as Whispers did, you’d probably be feeling the same way we are — fried.

The money in the U.S. Senate race between Tom Cotton and Mark Pryor is so big and comes from so many places you can only shake your head as you look at name after name and PAC after PAC, and say, “Really? Cotton and Pryor caused all this fuss?”

By our count, between the campaigns and the independent PACs that support them, this year’s Senate race is at $23 million and counting. As Nov. 4 draws closer, expect that figure to soar.

One of the many things that jumped out at us while combing through the reports was the commission rate on the media buys — 15 percent.

One PAC that supports Pryor, Patriot Majority USA, purchased $346,816 in attack ads aimed at Cotton. The commission? Try $52,022.

A PAC aligned with Cotton, Americans for Prosperity, spent $423,925 on a series of attack ads on Pryor. The commission came out to $63,588.

We know what the advertising reps at the local TV stations are thinking: What a great election!

We bet they’d vote for both candidates if they could.