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WASHINGTON (AP) — Donors to the campaign committees of the two major parties have forked over at least $625 million so far this election cycle and show no signs of slowing down. That heavy giving will allow the campaign committees to flood voters' televisions with ads, mailboxes with fliers, and phones with calls promoting candidates for House and Senate races.

Outside groups, meanwhile, continued raising and spending millions more.

Federal law required the committees to report no later than Friday how much money they have raised — and, perhaps more telling, how much they have spent.

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DEMOCRATS PAY DOWN DEBT

The Democratic National Committee is making progress at whittling down a once-enormous debt, trimming its red ink to less than $5 million for the first time since mid-2012.

The DNC amassed significant debt as it spent heavily on President Barack Obama's re-election bid in 2012. At the end of July 2012, the DNC reported almost $4.8 million in red ink, but that number ballooned to a high of almost $23 million in March 2013 as bills came due and donors tired of giving.

Despite raising $107 million this election cycle, the DNC is still carrying $4.9 million. The biggest of the 44 outstanding bills is for Obama pollster Joel Benenson. The Benenson Strategy Group is owed $824,000.

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RNC CONTINUES STEADY FUNDRAISING

The Republican National Committee again posted steady fundraising, bringing in another $8.2 million in May.

Although the DNC raised slightly more — $8.8 million — the RNC has been a reliable fundraising operation that sends donors dollars out to state affiliates. The RNC has outraised the DNC in 10 of the last 17 months.

Republicans also have built an almost 2-to-1 cash advantage. The RNC has $13.5 million in the bank. The DNC has $7.9 million saved.

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SENATE DEMS BUY BUILDING, BEST GOP

Senate Democrats' campaign arm borrowed $5.2 million to buy a Capitol Hill home next to its headquarters.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the last 11 years had leased the Mott House, which has campaign committee offices and is a frequent venue for Democratic fundraisers. The campaign committee borrowed the entire purchase price for the property, which is steps from the Senate grounds and a favorite of donors.

The DSCC report also showed it again outraised the National Republican Senatorial Committee, continuing a trend during 15 of the last 17 months.

Democratic donors gave $8.3 million and helped the DSCC save $28.2 million.

GOP donors, meanwhile, gave $5.8 million in May. The committee has saved $22.1 million.

In all, the Senate committees have raised a combined $154 million and saved $50 million. They also have spent almost $109 million.

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DESPITE LONG ODDS, HOUSE DEMS TOP GOP

House Democrats' campaign arm last month again outraised Republican rivals despite long odds of ousting the GOP from the majority.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised $7.3 million in May while the National Republican Congressional Committee collected $6 million. Democrats' House-oriented committee has now outraised its GOP counterpart in 15 of the last 17 months.

Combined, the committees have raised $241 million this cycle and have banked $81 million, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. They have spent a combined $128 million.

Those staggering sums, however, might be irrelevant to deciding the balance of power in the House. Redrawn congressional districts after the 2010 census heavily favor Republicans, and the party that holds the White House historically has lost seats in elections at this point in a president's term. President Barack Obama, a Democrat, is very unpopular in many congressional districts.

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HOUSE COMMITTEES START SPENDING

The campaign committees are amassing huge bank accounts and are ready to empty them on ads.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has saved $45.9 million and has booked $44 million in advertising time for November's elections.

The National Republican Campaign Committee has banked $35.2 million. It has reserved $30 million in air time.

Those ad reservations, which have not yet come from the committees' accounts, come on top of the $128 million they've spent this cycle.

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BIG DONORS STILL HAVE SWAY

The Democratic-backing House Majority PAC raised almost $1.8 million in May. Of that, $1 million came from Chicago businessman Fred Eychaner and brought his total giving to the group run by former aides to Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi to $1.5 million.

Eychaner, the founder of Chicago-based Newsweb Corp., previously wrote a $4 million check to the Senate Majority PAC, which is run by former aides to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Senate Majority PAC raised $2 million in May and spent $7 million to help endangered Democrats. The top donation to group was $400,000 from the National Air Traffic Controllers Association PAC. Baltimore attorney Peter Angelos gave $300,000 to the committee, and the Puyallup Tribe of Indians in Tacoma, Washington, gave $250,000.

Backing Republicans, hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer wrote a $1 million check to the Karl Rove-backed American Crossroads. He helped the outside super PAC raise almost $1.7 million in May.

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Follow Philip Elliott on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/philip_elliott

PARIS (AP) — U.S. conglomerate General Electric Co. looked set to win its months-long fight to acquire the power generation business of France's Alstom SA, after the French government dropped its objections and threw its support behind the American offer.

The final decision now rests with Alstom's board, which was due to meet later Friday. GE, which has sought a deal with Alstom since April, had given the French company until Monday to sign off on the $17 billion offer.

Friday's announcement brings an end to months of uncertainty over whether GE would be able to win over the French government's approval despite resistance by President Francois Hollande and other top officials.

French economy minister Arnaud Montebourg said Friday the government preferred GE's offer to a rival bid from Germany's Siemens and Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and would take a 20 percent stake in Alstom.

Alstom has favored a tie-up with GE but had to postpone signing the deal since April, as the government intervened to seek assurances on jobs and decision-making.

GE boss Jeff Immelt was in Paris on Thursday and Friday to press the case for his offer with officials from Alstom, the government and unions.

Immelt saw off the rival offer from Siemens and Mitsubishi, but only after revisions to take account of the French government's concerns that the deal not lead to job losses, or move decision-making authority out of France.

Whereas GE's original offer entailed a clear-cut cash buyout of Alstom's power business, the new proposal calls for the two companies to set up three 50/50 joint ventures: one for the power grid businesses, another for the offshore wind and hydro-power operations, and a third for the nuclear steam turbines business.

Siemens and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan presented a rival bid Wednesday. An independent committee of Alstom's board is slated to review both offers and make a recommendation to the entire board before Monday.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The World Cup of surprises is turning into a sweet samba party for teams from the Americas.

Having already stunned one former world champion, little Costa Rica shocked another on Friday and sent a third one home. Then the French exploded with five goals against their Swiss neighbors.

The story so far: Two European powers — Spain and England — are out of contention after just two games. European teams have played eight teams from the Americas and won just twice. The nine teams from Africa, Asia and Oceania have contrived to win just one game between them.

But for teams from the Americas, their record as of Friday against nations from other regions: played 12, lost just two. Ole! In short, the new world is embarrassing the old one.

None of the previous seven World Cups in the Americas were won by teams outside Latin America. On current evidence, this one looks increasingly unlikely to be the exception.

Although the score was just 1-0, Costa Rica was an easy winner Friday over four-time champion Italy in the coastal city of Recife. Having also won its first match, 3-1, against two-time winner Uruguay, Costa Rica is now guaranteed a spot in the knockout stage.

Costa Rica's win also killed off England's faint hopes of advancing. Italy and Uruguay will play each other on Tuesday to determine which of them joins Costa Rica in advancing from Group D and which will join 1966 champion England and 2010 winner Spain in phoning their travel agents.

Costa Rica, with just 5 million people, was seen as the easy opponent in the group — the first ever with three former world champions. Instead, the Ticos have looked the hungriest team of the four, and are already preparing for a knockout game.

The only two European nations to have beaten Americas teams so far in Brazil are France and Switzerland, which overcame Honduras and Ecuador, respectively, in their first Group E matches. On Friday, France and Switzerland played each other in Salvador, also on the coast. The French were rampant winners, 5-2, all but guaranteeing they, too, will advance to the last 16 for only the second time since they won the title in 1998.

Switzerland coach Ottmar Hitzfeld tipped France to go "very far in this tournament" after it shredded his team's defenses and reputation as tough to break down. Five different players scored for France.

If it stays on top of Group E, it will likely face Iran, Nigeria or Bosnia in last 16. They should all be manageable opponents for the talented French who are rebuilding their reputation ruined by a training ground strike by players at the last World Cup. Friday marked the fourth anniversary of that debacle in South Africa.

Attackers Olivier Giroud and Karim Benzema each scored one goal and created another against the Swiss. Benzema went 15 games without scoring for France in 2012-2013. He now has three goals in Brazil.

"Karim is confirming that he's in very, very good form. He's in great shape athletically," said France coach Didier Deschamps. "Having such an efficient player is very important in a competition like this."

The two other teams in the group, Ecuador and Honduras played in the late game in Curitiba.

Costa Rica had never beaten Uruguay in eight previous attempts or Italy in their only meeting in 1994. If it beats England in the teams' first-ever encounter next Tuesday, Costa Rica will complete a hat-trick of victories over those former champions with seven World Cup titles between them.

Their victory over the Italians was no fluke. Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon made several diving saves. But he couldn't reach Bryan Ruiz's pinpoint header in the 44th minute off Junior Diaz's long, curling cross from the left.

Costa Rica ground to a standstill as government employees took the day off to watch the game and many schools shut down shortly after the victory to allow children to join celebrations. Crowds shouting: "Yes, we did it!" blocked streets of downtown San Jose, the capital. In Brazil, players began to receive photos of the party on their smartphones. Costa Rica's only other appearance in the knockout phase came in its World Cup debut in 1990. It didn't get beyond the group stage in 2002 and 2006.

"It was the squad with the lowest profile in the group, but you don't advance on profile alone in big tournaments," said Italy coach Cesare Prandelli.

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