Blowing away the competition, the GOP-aligned independent groups American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS have now dropped a combined $78 million in October alone to influence the 2012 election.

That’s about double what the official Republican party committees have spent on independent expenditures so far this month.

Among outside givers, the conglomerate founded by longtime Republican strategists Ed Gillespie and Karl Rove, are in a class all their own. You would have to total the October spending of the next eight biggest spending GOP outside groups to surpass the Crossroads machine – from the pro-Romney Restore Our Future’s $31 million to the anti-tax Club for Growth’s $3.6 million.

The super PAC American Crossroads has spent $47 million and its sister nonprofit Crossroads GPS has dropped a cool $31 million. American Crossroads has focused its resources on the presidential race, spending just a few million dollars on the Florida, Wisconsin and Montana Senate contests. Crossroads GPS has spent 62 percent of its money on various Senate races, with the rest going towards the presidential and House campaigns, according to an analysis of Sunlight’s Follow the Unlimited Money tracker.

American Crossroads’ latest buy features Clint Eastwood, now an infamous player in the campaign for his ‘empty chair’ skit during the Republican National Convention.

Here is a list of the 10 biggest-spending groups so far this month:

1. American Crossroads: $47,316,371

2. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee: $31,343,469

3. Crossroads GPS: $30,972,615

4. Restore Our Future: $30,774,395

5. National Republican Congressional Committee: $29,283,657

6. Demcratic Senatorial Campaign Committee: $22,855,623

7. Priorities USA Action: $20,794,852

8. Majority PAC: $13,902,117

9. House Majority PAC: $11,274,616

10. American for Tax Reform: $10,778,720