The country will spend a record $5.3 billion on federal candidates during the 2008 election cycle, a 27 percent increase from the 2004 cycle, according to a report today from the Center for Responsive Politics.  Spending on the presidential race alone tallied $1.5 billion as of Tuesday, double the spending in the 2004 cycle, and the first time more than $1 billion has been spent on a presidential campaign. By the end of the campaign, spending on the presidential race will total $2.4 billion, the Center reports.  The Center, a non-partisan watch dog group, used spending figures through Oct. 21 to make its projection of total spending for the cycle.  The largest group of donors came from the sector the Center categorizes as Finance, Insurance and Real Estate, giving a total of $373 million. Employees of firms that gave the most were Goldman Sachs with $5 million, Citibank $4.2 million, JPMorgan Chase $4.1 million and the National Association of Realtors with $3.2 million.  There are alternatives. Clean Elections candidates garner a number of small donations, typically $5, from a set number of voters within their district. Once a candidate has qualified for public funds, she agrees to stop raising funds. This means the candidate gets off the money raising treadmill and spends her time discussing the issues with voters.