Incredibly, ABC News gets it right:

When Kerry campaign was running short on cash earlier this year, a number of liberal, independent groups with ties to the Massachusetts senator and the Democratic Party saturated the airwaves in battleground states with anti-Bush TV ads.

Arguably no one has benefited more from the existence of these types of independent groups than Kerry. And unlike the president, Kerry has not called for the FEC to rule them illegal.

Factoids from the article:

• Americans for Jobs, Health Care and Progressive Values ran an ad that knocked high-flying Dean out of the race:
  

  Featuring the image of Osama bin Laden, the ad told viewers that “Americans want a president who can face the dangers ahead. But Howard Dean has no military or foreign policy experience. And Howard Dean just cannot compete with George Bush on foreign policy.” Captions floated up and around the screen: “No experience,” “Destroy Us.”

  • Robert Gibbs was the 527′s treasurer, and only weeks before was serving as a campaign spokesman for Kerry.

  • All told, Americans for Jobs, Health Care and Progressive Values spent $633,000 on anti-Dean ads, about a third of the funding of which was tied to Kerry campaign supporters from over the years. Contributions of particular note:
    • $100,000 came from the Yankees Entertainment Network, run by Leo Hindery, who has given $5,000 to Kerry over the years.
    • $100,000 came from Slimfast founder S. Daniel Abraham, who has given Kerry $4,000.
    • $15,000 came from Bernard Schwartz ? the chairman of Loral Space and Communications, who had given Kerry the maximum contribution of $2,000 just months before.
    • $25,000 came from Swanee Hunt, who has given at least $3,000 to Kerry over the years.
    • $50,000 donation came from the defunct re-election campaign of Sen. Bob Torricelli, the ethics-challenged former New Jersey senator who was also a Kerry supporter.

• The Kerry campaign then ? just like the Bush campaign today ? insisted there was nothing untoward about the fact that supporters and former staffers loyal to Kerry were cropping up with this group.

• Jim Jordan, Kerry’s ex-Campaign Manager, now helps to run two liberal 527s, Americans Coming Together, or ACT, and The Media Fund.
• Gibbs ? the former Kerry campaign who worked for Americans for Jobs, Health Care, and Progressive Values ? also now works for ACT.
• Harold Ickes, former deputy chief of staff in the Clinton White House, advises both ACT and the Democratic National Committee, which works directly with the Kerry campaign.
• Bob Bauer gives legal advice to ACT, worked for the Kerry campaign until a few months ago, and is now paid by the DNC to give the Kerry campaign legal advice.
• Bill Knapp made ads for The Media Fund and now makes ads for Kerry. Minyon Moore, a founder of ACT, spearheads the Kerry campaign’s minority outreach program.
• ACT has been given at least $5 million by George Soros, who has also given $4,000 to Kerry over the years.
• Soros has also given $2.5 million to Moveon.org, which has run some of the harshest anti-Bush ads. At a star-studded event in New York City on Tuesday night, Moveon.org unveiled 14 new ads featuring actors and directors like Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Kevin Bacon, Rob Reiner and Richard Linklater.
• Moveon.org’s former organizing director, Zach Exley, now works for the Kerry campaign Web site, while DNC counsel Joe Sandler, also gives the group legal advice.

One fact overlooked by ABC:

• Mary Beth Cahill, who replaced Jordan as Kerry’s Campaign Manager, was once Executive Director of Emily’s List, a far-left, pro-abortion feminist organization.