But in the last weeks of the campaign

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But in the last weeks of the campaign, the money itself is becoming the story as Democrats seek to shine light on where it comes from and Republicans defend the election-year spending as a constitutionally protected form of speech.
Democrats from the president on down have stepped up their dire warnings about the influence of what they describe as corporate money. And they are increasingly raising the specter of conservative groups solisciting money from foreign contributions.
The message is being echoed by liberal talk show hosts on cable television. Rachel Maddow spent the first 15 minutes of her show on Wednesday night devoted to the topic. And Senator Al Franken, Democrat of Minnesota,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], called on Wednesday for a probe by the Federal Elections Commission of possible improper foreign contributions to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a charge the organization denies.
“They are spending tens of millions of dollars against Democratic candidates without telling the American people where that flood of money is coming from,” Mr. Obama said at a fundraiser in New York late last month. “You don’t know if it’s coming from big oil or insurance companies. You don’t even know if it’s coming from a foreign-controlled corporation.”
Now, as my colleague,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Eric Lichtblau, reports this morning, Republican leaders on Capitol Hill have begun a a counter-offensive, accusing Democrats of attempting to “chill” the legitimate First Amendment rights of interests that are supporting Republicans. And they are accusing officials to Mr. Obama of improperly using the Internal Revenue Service to audit the conservative groups.
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In January, during his first State of the Union address,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], President Obama predicted that a U.S. Supreme Court decision would “open the floodgates” of money into campaigns. He warned against elections that are “bankrolled” by powerful interests.
Now that flood of cash has arrived, mostly into new organizations that are working on behalf of Mr. Obama’s adversaries and are not required to disclose their donors. The money is helping Republican candidates take advantage of a wave of anger and dissatisfaction across the country.