The multibillion-dollar 2012 election: By the numbers

President Obama after his victory speech in Chicago: In total, $931,471,420 was spent on the campaign to re-elect Obama.

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

In an election that generated a lot of firsts — first states to legalize marijuana for recreation and profit, first openly gay U.S. senator, the first Mormon presidential candidate battling the first black president — one fact sticks out, and not necessarily in a good way: This was by far the most expensive election in U.S. history. Neither President Obama nor GOP challenger Mitt Romney accepted public financing, leaving them free to raise massive amounts of money, and after the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United ruling, super PAC and 501(c)(4) "dark money" groups poured hundreds of millions into the election. And for all that cash, Obama was re-elected, Republicans kept control of the House, and Democrats retained the Senate. Here's a look at the super-expensive 2012 election, by the numbers:

$4.2 billion