Democratic leaders from President Obama on down have assailed the spending by outside conservative groups, complaining that the business lobby and other Republican allies are pouring millions of dollars into the election as they shield donors from public scrutiny.
But now independent groups that support Democrats - including unions, environmental groups and new players - are fast gaining ground, often while using some of the same techniques condemned by Democrats. The strategies include using money from nonprofit organizations that can keep their donors secret and tapping into union dues to pay for unlimited attack ads.
Nearly four of every 10 dollars spent by independent groups last week was aimed at helping Democratic candidates, according to a Washington Post analysis of campaign-finance disclosure filings. The number is a dramatic improvement from just a few weeks earlier, when Democratic allies were being outspent by 7 to 1, the data show.
Once spending by the parties themselves is added into the mix, Democratic candidates are getting the benefit of nearly half - 46 percent - of independent spending reported to the Federal Election Commission. Many Democratic incumbents are also sitting on flush bank accounts that they have been building up since the end of the 2008 election.
The trends mean that, overall, Democrats and their allies still have a good chance of outspending Republicans in the end. The pattern undercuts Democratic attempts to blame well-funded conservative groups for an expected wave of losses when voters go to the polls Tuesday.
"The outrage over spending by GOP-leaning outside groups is a political ploy, selective in its focus and hypocritical in its messaging," said Jonathan Collegio, spokesman for American Crossroads, which has reported spending $30 million on behalf of Republicans so far...