Estimate: Nearly $6 billion will be spent on elections this cycle

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Total political spending on elections this cycle is estimated to reach nearly $6 billion, according to an analysis by the Center for Competitive Politics, a non-partisan group that tracks the influence of money in politics.

The researchers who compiled the report gathered data through public disclosure documents submitted to the Federal Election Commission and tax documents filed by non-profit groups that are not required by law to disclose their donors. The estimated amount--$5.8 billion--is $400 million more than the record-breaking amount spent in the last presidential election cycle in 2008. The report includes spending on congressional campaigns in its calculation and estimates that the presidential race alone will cost $2.5 billion.

"Although a lot of money still remains to be raised and spent, the data already show that we're on track to break the extraordinary, record-setting sums spent in 2008," said CFRP Executive Director Sheila Krumholz. "That cycle was the first in which we crossed the $5 billion mark, and the big question now is whether we will already reach--or surpass--$6 billion just one cycle later. At a minimum, we'll come close."

Since certain non-profit groups that spend on campaign speech are not required by law to provide comprehensive reports on their activity, the estimate is not perfect, the researchers said.

"[O]utside spending," the researchers who compiled the report wrote, "is a wild card that makes predictions tricky."

From the report, here's a breakdown of which groups are spending the most this cycle: