ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — New Minnesota campaign finance reports show that spending on the fight over an unsuccessful constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage topped $18 million last year

The spending made it Minnesota’s most costly election contest of 2012. But it was just a slice of the tens of millions in political dollars spent on races up and down the ballot.

Minnesotans United for All Families, the group that led the campaign to defeat the marriage amendment, spent about $12.4 million last year. It was far more than the $5.6 million that Minnesota for Marriage put into its failed effort.

There was also a multimillion dollar campaign surrounding the other constitutional amendment that voters turned back. That one would have required people to present photo IDs to vote.

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