washington<u+2014>both donald trump and hillary clinton escalated their spending last month, particularly on television advertising, as they prepared for the final offensive of the 2016 presidential campaign. the parallels ended there. mrs. clinton, the democratic nominee, spent $82 million in september, about $9 million more than she raised and $33 million more than she spent the previous month, according to a report her campaign filed with the federal election commission late thursday. the primary driver of her increased spending: a $66 million investment in tv advertising , up from $32.6 million she spent on ads in august. her second-largest expenditure was on payroll, which cost her campaign $3.4 million<u+2014>up from about $3.2 million in august. mr. trump<u+2019>s spending last month took a more dramatic shift. he spent $70 million, more than double the $30 million he had spent the previous month and $25 million more than he raised in september. he, too, grew his investment in tv advertising, spending $23.2 million<u+2014>up from $5.2 million in august. yet unlike mrs. clinton, mr. trump didn<u+2019>t devote a particularly large share of his resources to his staff. his spending on payroll grew by just $200,000 last month, while his spending on field consulting shrunk by about $100,000. mr. trump paid about 220 staffers last month, his filing showed, compared with 815 paid by mrs. clinton. in total, mr. trump spent $1.7 million on staff last month. his investment in hats and other campaign merchandise was far larger: $3.7 million. mr. trump<u+2019>s outsize spending last month left his coffers $25 million short of mrs. clinton<u+2019>s. he had $34.7 million in the bank at the end of september, to mrs. clinton<u+2019>s $59 million. including funds raised by their joint party accounts, mrs. clinton ended september with twice as much in the bank as mr. trump<u+2014>$150 million to his $75 million. among the firms that drew the largest checks from the trump campaign was giles-parscale, a san antonio-based web-marketing company run by brad parscale, mr. trump<u+2019>s digital director. the firm, which before 2016 had never worked for a presidential campaign, earned $20.6 million from the campaign in september<u+2014>up from $11.1 million in august. the payments were categorized as for <u+201c>digital consulting/online advertising.<u+201d> mr. trump also escalated his payments to a data-analytics firm called cambridge analytica, which is partly owned by hedge-fund executive robert mercer, one of the nominee<u+2019>s top donors, who has expanded his influence in the campaign in recent months. mr. trump paid the firm $5 million in september, up from $250,000 in august. while mr. trump has overall reduced spending on his own companies in recent months, he more than doubled his payments last month to tag air, an airline he owns. the campaign paid the airline $757,000 in september, up from $319,000 the previous month. overall, it paid close to $990,000 to trump-owned firms last month. mr. trump<u+2019>s legal expenses also more than doubled last month, when he paid nearly $500,000 to seven law firms. in august, he paid $232,000 to four firms. in contrast, mrs. clinton<u+2019>s spending on legal consulting last month dropped, totaling $118,000 to two firms<u+2014>nearly a fourth of what she spent on lawyers in august. the latest disclosure shows the trump campaign ramping up payments to firms affiliated with campaign staffers. mr. trump paid $7.4 million to jamestown associates, a political-consulting firm where top campaign aide jason miller is a partner. in august, the campaign paid the firm $830,000. last month<u+2019>s payments were categorized as for producing and placing ads, as well as a $20,000 payment for <u+201c>communications consulting.<u+201d> the campaign also paid $381,000 to the polling company, a firm run by kellyanne conway, mr. trump<u+2019>s campaign manager. the payments<u+2014>which were categorized as for polling<u+2014>were nearly triple what the campaign paid the firm in august. ms. conway doesn<u+2019>t draw a separate paycheck. mrs. clinton<u+2019>s campaign manager, robby mook, drew a more conventional paycheck: $11,000 for the month. mrs. clinton last month escalated payments on online advertising, spending $866,000<u+2014>up from $151,000 in august. but her investment in polling fell to $826,000 from $1.3 million in august, and she spent about $900,000 less on event production. the clinton campaign paid several of its top vendors less in september as it devoted a larger share of its spending to advertising. the firm run by mrs. clinton<u+2019>s top pollster, joel benenson, earned $463,000 last month, about $200,000 less than in september. financial innovations, a campaign-merchandise firm run by a longtime friend to the clintons, earned $286,000 last month, about half as much as it earned in august. payments to david binder research, another polling firm, were cut in three last month. overall, among the top beneficiaries of the 2016 campaign is corey lewandowski, mr. trump<u+2019>s former campaign manager who was fired in june yet has continued to draw severance from the campaign. mr. trump paid him $100,000 last month, a single payout for the $20,000-per-month severance he was guaranteed by the campaign. mr. lewandowski, who has since been hired as a paid contributor by cnn, has earned a total of $515,000 from the trump campaign over the course of the cycle. write to rebecca ballhaus at rebecca.ballhaus@wsj.com
donald trump, hillary clinton increase spending as campaigns near end - wsj
rebecca ballhaus