Super PACs Outspend Candidates 2-1 in SC

The super PACS are living up to their name in South Carolina: Heading into today, they had spent more than $7 million in the state, more than double the $3.2 million spent by the candidates themselves, reports ABC's The Note blog. The pro-Romney Restore Our Future group is responsible for $2.1 million of that total, which contrasts with the $1.1 million the candidate's official campaign has spent.

Candidates, of course, can't directly communicate with their supportive super PACs, though they can apparently send strong hints. Which might explain why Stephen Colbert is happy to make fun of the whole process: Now that he's kind of in the race, his super PAC has been renamed the Definitely Not Coordinating With Stephen Colbert Super PAC and is safely in the hands of Jon Stewart. In the New York Times today, Jason Zinoman riffs on how Colbert "provides a study in the absurdity of laws governing campaign spending." (More super PACs stories.)