Look at Hillary and the corrupt Democrats, they outspent Trump *over* 2 to 1 across the board and much higher in some venues. Meg Whitman? The billionaire would spend more of her own fortune, more than anyone in history at the time, yet she couldn't buy the governors office in CA.
Trump was particularly gifted in the traditional retail politics “press the flesh” campaigning. Not every candidate - in fact most - can’t just schedule a rally and have tens of thousands of people show up and prompt free media coverage. A full paid media campaign is still very necessary for most candidates to become known.
Meg Whitman was a worthless sack of crap who should have had a D next to her name. But then most of what gets pushed on us out here by the national GOP is just as bad as her. Neel Kashkari, the Hindu Obama, the heart throb of Jeb, Mitt, Condi and all the rest of those losers.