Political campaign spending on advertising media and marketing services is expected to rocket to an all-time high of $4.50 bln in the 2008 election cycle, as an acrimonious political environment, record fundraising and the high number of presidential candidates are driving an unprecedented media spending splurge, according to PQ Media. Total political media spend in the 2008 election cycle, including all nine advertising and marketing communications segments used for this purpose, is expected to jump 43.3% compared with the 2006 cycle and is projected to soar 64.1% over the 2004 election.