Romney sets record with TV ad buys

The size of Mitt Romney's TV ad barrage becomes more apparent with each new round of figures.

He has spent $10.2 million so far -- a record at this point in a presidential campaign and nearly three times as much as Democrat Barack Obama's $3.9 million, CNN's media consultant reported today. The nearest Republican to Romney's ad spending is John McCain with more than $300,000.

Romney is spending more than $85,000 a day and his commercials have aired more than 14,500 times, according to computations by TNSMI/Campaign Media Analysis Group. The ad barrage is focused on Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, the three key early voting states.

Romney's heavy spending, backing up his methodical campaign, has put him in the lead in the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire and in the mix in South Carolina.