state and other undecided voters appeared to gravitate his way in large numbers at the expense of candidates" such as Gingrich, Perry, and Bachmann. Campaign spending and super PACs The Iowa race was dominated by a large volume of negative or attack advertising paid for by "super PACs" supporting candidates. Total political expenditures in Iowa set a new record, totaling over $12 million, with an estimated two-thirds coming from super PACs. (Unlike contributions directly to candidate funds, which have a $2,500 contribution limit and must disclose all contributors, super PACs may raise unlimited amounts of money and may keep contributors anonymous). Some $10 million was spent in television advertising by candidates and super PACs across the state by the end of 2011. Former journalist David Yepsen, who covered nine Iowa caucuses for the Des Moines Register before joining the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, told The Boston Globe: "It's hard to figure out who is doing the attacking and to what end, and they're double-barreling the attacks on two or more candidates. I've never seen that before. We've never had this volume [of negative ads] or this much complexity." Romney's campaign was by far the largest overall spender, and Romney's "Restore Our Future" super PAC spent $4 million in attack ads against Gingrich beginning on December 9. The "Restore Our Future" negative television advertising and direct mail campaign was said to be "unprecedented" and "unlike anything in Iowa caucus history" and was credited with Gingrich's precipitous drop in the polls from front-runner into fourth-place finisher. By December 27, $2.86 million had been spent on television advertising by the Perry campaign, and $2.85 million had been spent by the pro-Romney "Restore Our Future" PAC. The New York Times reported that Romney "effectively outsourced his negative advertising to a group that has raised millions of dollars from his donors to inundate his opponents with attacks - all without breaking the rules that forbid super PACs to explicitly coordinate with the candidates." The Detroit Free Press editorialized that "No one exploited the new no-limits-or-accountability playing field more shamelessly or effectively than [Romney]. His campaign mounted a sunny, Morning in America-style ad blitz, while super PACs founded and directed by longtime Romney loyalists buried the governor's GOP rivals in televised slime." On January 1, ahead of the caucuses, Gingrich stated that Romney would "buy an election if he could."