Nonprofits Wield Some Serious Campaign Cash

Still, while 527 groups spent twice as much on Democrats as on Republicans in the 2004 election cycle, the new groups helped Republicans by the same margins in the last election, according to the institute.

“They’ve had a major impact on a number of Senate races in recent cycles,” said Michael E. Toner, a lawyer at Bryan Cave LLP and a former FEC chairman. “I do think there is a general question in the election-law bar about how aggressive the IRS has been and is going to be in overseeing 501(c) organizations that are involved in partisan politics.”