Independent groups outspend NC candidates

RALEIGH -- The TV air waves became a bit more crowded with political ads Tuesday. Attorney General Roy Cooper launched the first commercial of his election campaign for governor.

That's in contrast to Governor Pat McCrory who's already spent $78,000 already on TV ads.

However, most of the political TV ads airing right now are not coming from the candidates.

According to the Center for Public Integrity, independent groups have spent more than 47 times as much on political TV ads as the candidates themselves.

So far, eleven groups have entered the fray spending an estimated $3.7 million TV ads, the most in any single state-level race so far.

The group that has spent the most is North Carolina Environmental Partnership. They've spent about $1.6 million on ads attacking the McCrory administration's environmental record.

Coming in second is the Republican Governor's Association, spending about $664,000 in support of Governor McCrory.

CLICK HERE FOR THE COMPLETE LIST OF POLITICAL SPENDING IN NORTH CAROLINA (.PDF)