WASHINGTON -- The final tallies are in for the most expensive U.S. Senate race in Georgia history, as the candidates alone combined to spend $46.7 million in the two-year derby to succeed Saxby Chambliss.
Republican David Perdue, the victor, lent his campaign another $200,000 in the campaign's final days, according to new FEC filings. His final self-investment in the campaign was $3.2 million in the outcome -- $2.8 million in donations and $400,000 in outstanding self-loans.
Perdue also got a boost from an unlikely source: Sarah Palin's PAC gave him $5,000 in a check that was logged on Election Day. That would be the same Sarah Palin who lambasted Perdue in a visit to Georgia during the primary for a dismissive Perdue remark about Palin-endorsed "high school graduate" Karen Handel.
In all, Perdue took in $1.87 million and spent $2.28 million from Oct. 16 through Nov. 24. Democrat Michelle Nunn raised $1.80 million and spent $2.88 million during the final sprint, according to her campaign's filing. About $2 million of Nunn's spending in the closing stretch was on media buys.
Nunn's campaign also has about $80,000 in outstanding debts to campaign vendors, including $42,000 to Atlanta's Fox Brothers BBQ for what is described as "Digital Ads/Internet Services."
Over nearly a year and a half in the race, Nunn raised and spent $16 million. The only non-incumbent in the country from either party to out-raise her was Kentucky Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, who raised $18.9 million and lost to incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Perdue spent $13 million through the primary, runoff and general elections.
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