WASHINGTON – President Obama, who has decried the influence of outside groups in politics, is now encouraging his top donors to contribute to the independent political action committee backing his re-election.

“With so much at stake, we can’t allow for two sets of rules in this election whereby the Republican nominee is the beneficiary of unlimited spending and Democrats unilaterally disarm,” campaign manager Jim Messina wrote in an email to supporters.

Campaign officials said they made the decision after seeing the Republicans’ so-called super PACs emerge as the dominant spending force in the early primary states.

In last week’s federal financial filings, just one set of the groups, American Crossroads and Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, reported raising $51 million last year.

The super PACs’ rising influence has been a topic of discussion with the president for some time, and in recent days Obama was consulted on the announcement the campaign was readying to make, according to a campaign official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The campaign has decided to do what we can, consistent with the law, to support Priorities USA in its effort to counter the weight of the GOP Super PACs,” Messina said of the group formed by former White House aides. “We will do so only in the knowledge and with the expectation that all of its donations will be fully disclosed as required by law to the Federal Election Commission.”