NYT:

“In this new world of Citizens United, you want to take advantage of all the opportunities you can to advance the candidates you want to support,” said Ginger Gold Schnitzer, director of government relations at the New Jersey Education Association. “We wanted to broaden our participation in the electoral world, using our resources to leverage the energy of other groups.”

If successful, that model is likely to be exported to other state and federal races next year.

“These groups are now operating as surrogate parties,” said Jeffrey M. Brindle, executive director of the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission. “They are assuming all of the roles that parties have performed in our past.”

Indeed, Republican and Democratic Party committees have spent just $6 million on the election this year, according to public records, less than a sixth of what independent groups have spent.