Donald Trump vows to 'spend big' on campaign after holding his fire all year
"My campaign for president is $35,000,000 under budget, I have spent very little (and am in 1st place)," he wrote on Twitter, adding that he would soon "spend big" in three early-voting states: Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.
In November, Trump's campaign announced that it would start running radio ads, but the real-estate mogul has yet to launch much pricier television commercials. Television ads often make up the bulk of a presidential campaign budget. Trump, however, has relied on free media coverage and right-leaning outlets to get his message out.
That may be about to change. Fox News' Howard Kurtz reported Monday that Trump's campaign said it would "soon launch a major ad blitz that could cost at least $2 million a week, and possibly several times that."
Trump has frequently boasted that he is self-funding his presidential bid. But according to his October campaign-finance report, a large percentage of his spending came from individual contributions. Much of that went to apparel, such as his famous "Make America Great Again" hats.
The Republican front-runner also said Tuesday that his relatively cheap campaign is a model for how the federal government should treat taxpayer dollars: