Context

teh
I’ve seen this story linked to by several lefty blogs:

DALLAS -- The Bush administration spent $1.4 billion in taxpayer dollars on 137 contracts with advertising agencies over the past two-and-a-half years, according to a Government Accountability Office report released by House Democrats Monday.

With spending on public relations and other media included, federal agencies spent $1.6 billion on what some Democrats called "spin."

That certainly seems hugely excessive, but what I want to know is how does that compare to, say, what the Clinton administration expended on such things. I’d like some context. Although, I must say I don’t think I would approve of paying PR firms by any administration to promote their agenda.