What does it cost to be a big spender in California’s ballot initiative wars? Do the higher budgets translate to better results? And how can past initiative spending patterns be used to set budgets for the next cycle?

The price of maintaining financial advantage in a ballot initiative race – spending more than your opponents – rose 83% from 2010 to 2012, according to an analysis of state campaign expenditure reports by Forward Observer.

The “big spender” among the 11 major ballot initiatives in the 2010 cycle spent, on average, $20.3 million. Just two years later, this cost jumped to an average of $37.1 million for the eight major initiatives in the 2012 election cycle.

Read The Report Here