Just since Oct. 1, the two major candidates for St. Louis County executive have spent more than $1.1 million between them – most of it on TV ads.
On Monday, Republican Rick Stream and Democrat Steve Stenger filed their final campaign-finance reports – known as “eight-day reports” – before the Nov. 4 election.
In their filings, Stenger reported spending $712,032 just in October. That compared to $409,824 for Stream.
The bulk of their spending has been for TV ads, which have been running continually for almost two months.
But Stenger also has spent a significant sum on workers who are canvassing neighborhoods on his behalf. The report lists several dozen such people, most of them paid from $400 to $740 apiece.
Stenger also has significantly outraised Stream, but largely because so much was raised and spent during Stenger’s Democratic battle with County Executive Charlie Dooley.
From the beginning, Stenger has raised almost $3 million overall, compared to less than $500,000 for Stream.
Besides spending money, Stream and Stenger also have been busy this month raising it. Stream has raised $311,691 since Oct. 1, compared to $392,255 for Stenger.
Both of them reported little left for the final week: Stenger has $72,308, while Stream reported $52,151.
