It is difficult to provide an accurate, up-to-the-moment comparison that includes all three streams of campaign money — money spent by candidates, money spent by party committees and money spent by outside groups — because candidates have had to file financial reports that cover only up until mid-October. Moreover, certain types of so-called issue advertisements, which do not explicitly urge voters to cast their ballots one way or another but still attack or praise candidates ahead of the general election, had to be filed with the Federal Election Commission only beginning in September, or 60 days before voters go to the polls. 
 
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 While activities like television and radio advertisements and mass mailings are reported to the commission soon after they are purchased, other kinds of spending, like get-out-the-vote efforts, are not. 
 
 In mid-October, however, based upon the campaign finance data available, Democrats actually had the spending advantage in about 60 percent of the 109 competitive House races and had invested, collectively, about 10 percent more money into the contests than Republican candidates and their aligned groups had over the previous few months. 
 
 Those outside groups have proven crucial, though. Expenditures by Republican-oriented independent groups in carefully selected races have been financial difference-makers in dozens of cases, more than enough to help put the Republicans within striking distance of recapturing the majority, especially considering the political headwinds faced by Democrats. 
 
 With the Democratic and Republican Congressional campaign committees essentially battling each other to a draw, Republican-leaning groups have used their financial heft to broaden the political map. Since July, they have put $100,000 or more into more than 80 percent of the races in play, many more than Democratic-leaning groups, who have invested $100,000 or more in about half of the competitive races. 
 
 Only in the last two weeks or so have Democratic-oriented groups finally begun to come close to matching the spending of their counterparts on the right. But in many cases they appear to be playing defense, rushing to bolster Democratic candidates in races in which Republican outside groups had been swamping them. 
 
 America’s Families First Action Fund, for instance, a new Democratic-aligned group that is able to accept contributions of unlimited size from individuals and corporations but regularly reports its donors to the election commission, has emerged in the last few weeks as a major player. But in almost all of the races it has been involved in, it is mostly laboring to keep up with Republican outside group spending. 
 
 Last week, for example, the group spent $362,000 on a television ad attacking Steve Southerland, the Republican challenger to Representative Allen Boyd, Democrat of Florida. But the 60 Plus Association, a nonprofit advocacy group that bills itself as a conservative alternative to AARP, began attacking the Democratic incumbent on television as early as late August. 
 
 In the closing stretch of the campaign, Democratic candidates in competitive races generally have had more money in the bank to spend than their Republican counterparts. As of Oct. 13, Democrats in House races in play collectively had about $45 million in cash on hand, compared with about $32. million for Republicans. 
 
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 In contest after contest, however, Democratic candidates with huge financial advantages over underfinanced Republican opponents have found themselves under siege. 
 
 Outside group spending has already far exceeded the total for the last midterm election cycle, in 2006, and is on track to surpass even what was spent by independent groups in 2008, a presidential election year, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics. 
 
 The hand-to-hand political combat between candidates, who must inch along in their own fund-raising in relatively modest bites, and these groups, which are able to leapfrog ahead with the help of a single giant donation, casts in bold relief the kind of outsized influence corporate and individual megadonors to such organizations can exert on specific races. 
 
 Take, for example, the tight race in New York’s 20th Congressional District. Representative Scott Murphy, a Democrat who was elected in 2009 to replace Kirsten Gillibrand, after she ascended to the Senate, has spent $1.5 million since late August, compared with less than $400,000 by his Republican challenger, Chris Gibson, a retired Army colonel. 
 
 But Mr. Gibson has been helped by more than $700,000 in spending by Republican-leaning outside groups, while Democratic-leaning groups have spent less than $200,000 supporting Mr. Murphy. 
 
 American Crossroads, one of a pair of independent groups tied to Karl Rove, spent about $200,000 in mid-October on a television commercial attacking Mr. Murphy for his support of the health care overhaul. 
 
 The group’s most recent filings with the election commission revealed $14.7 million in donations since September, two-thirds of which essentially came from two people, Bob Perry, a Houston home builder, and Robert B. Rowling, a billionaire from Dallas. 
 
 Leading the way in independent group spending on House races has been the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has reported spending more than $12 million on “issue ads” in House races dating back to September, mostly attacking Democratic candidates. 
 
 Other top-spending Republican-oriented groups in House races include: American Action Network, a nonprofit advocacy group created this year by Republican operatives, which has reported spending about $10 million; the 60 Plus Association has disclosed expenditures of roughly $8 million; and American Future Fund, an Iowa-based nonprofit, has reported investing about $7 million in House races. 
 
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 At over $5 million, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a labor union, has been the biggest outside group spender on the Democratic side, followed closely by America’s Families First Action Fund, with about $4.8 million. ||||| To hear top Democrats tell it, the party is being wildly outgunned this year in the fight for campaign cash as Republicans rely on outside groups to funnel money to GOP contenders. 
 
 But the numbers tell a different story. 
 
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 It’s true that conservative third-party groups are outspending their Democratic rivals. But the Democrats still have a sizable cash advantage in their party committees – making this year’s elections a lot more of a fair fight than Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi let on. 
 
 So far, the latest figures show that the Democratic Party machinery has outraised its Republican counterpart in this campaign cycle by almost $270 million. 
 
 And even when outside spending on television advertising and direct mail is added to the mix, Republicans still haven’t closed the gap. 
 
 The money race totals come to $856 million for the Democratic committees and their aligned outside groups, compared to $677 for their Republican adversaries, based on figures compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. 
 
 Included in that total: conservative groups have spent $169 million on ads attacking Democratic House and Senate candidates, compared to $80 million by liberal-leaning groups, based on figures as of Tuesday morning. 
 
 Of course, plenty more will be spent in this final week of the campaign. 
 
 The GOP-leaning outside groups have vowed to invest about $325 million this cycle, a sum that could be difficult to achieve with just seven days to go to Election Day. Liberal groups and unions also have pledged tens of millions of dollars more in spending. 
 
 But the David-and-Goliath tone of some Democratic messaging hardly reflects the party’s own financial strength and ability to defend itself, at least tactically. 
 
 “When you look at the national party committees coupled with the state party committees, the Democrats are whopping the Republicans,” said Dave Levinthal, a spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics. 
 
 
 
 “It’s when you get into the realm of outside spending that you see the opposite is very much true, with conservative-leaning groups effectively obliterating the left-leaning groups,” he said. 
 
 Hari Sevugan, the Democratic National Committee spokesman, said his party’s complaint with the outside groups isn’t just about the fundraising totals, but about how the money comes in. 
 
 “If you take in the sum what will be spent by the candidates, the outside groups, and the party, there will certainly be a lot of money on both sides,” said Sevugan. 
 
 But the decision by some of the GOP groups to organize under tax laws allowing them to keep their donors secret raises the question of “who will these candidates be beholden to in the end?” he added.
– Democrats have been playing the financial victim lately, bemoaning the cash outside groups are throwing at Republicans. Which is kind of ironic, because the truth is that Democrats are outspending Republicans—even if you take those outside groups into account. Democratic campaign committees and left-leaning outside groups have spent a total of $856 million, compared to $677 million from Republican committees and right-leaning outside groups, Politico reports. The New York Times adds that in the 109 most competitive House races, Democrats have out-raised their opponents by more than 30%. “When you look at the national party committees … the Democrats are whopping the Republicans,” said a Center for Responsive Politics spokesman. But right-leaning outside groups are “effectively obliterating left-leaning groups.” A Democratic National Committee spokesman says the point isn’t how much is spent, but who’s spending it. “Who will these candidates be beholden to in the end?” he asks.