Boston’s mayoral race closes today with a fire hose of outside super PAC money dousing the city. It’s an unprecedented shift for municipal politics in the city. But it’s not unique.The situation Boston is seeing — huge inflows of money into a relatively low-dollar race — is repeating itself across the country. Super PACs rose to prominence during last year’s presidential race. But they’re finding they have much greater running room in smaller, local races.

Less than two weeks ago, CommonWealth looked at the historic influx of super PAC money into Boston’s mayoral race. The level of saturation of the outside funds (the PACs don’t carry traditional fundraising and spending limits, and they may conceal the source of their funds) was already unmatched in a mayor’s race. On a per-capita basis, Boston’s race has attracted far more outside money than mayoral races in New York or Los Angeles. Since CommonWealth’s initial report, the volume of super PAC spending in Boston has doubled, from roughly $2 million to $4 million.

Democrats for Education Reform, a group that had been sitting on the sidelines, has poured money into an effort to support John Connolly at a furious pace. The group has spent $1.3 million on Connolly’s behalf, the bulk of it since late October. DFER has roughly matched the amount a trio of Marty Walsh-aligned super PACs (American Working Families, the AFL-CIO-aligned Working America, and One Boston, a blind shell of a PAC) since October 15. The Walsh-aligned PACs ramped up their spending in August, and had a $1.2 million spending advantage when Connolly partisans jumped into the race.

Overall, Walsh enjoys a two-to-one spending advantage in outside funds — less than it was in mid-October, but still a significant advantage. The outside money has significantly altered the balance of spending in Boston’s mayoral race, turning a roughly even match between Walsh and Connolly into a lopsided affair. Pro-Walsh PACs should also post some big expenditures in connection with paid get-out-the-vote efforts; Working America spent heavily on GOTV for Walsh in September’s preliminary election.

Super PACs have tipped the scales in Boston because they’re not subject to the $500 individual contribution limits that state and local candidates work under. The leverage on the PACs’ millions is much greater in a low-money local race than in an expensive national race. Super PACs on both sides of the political spectrum are discovering this, and pouring money into local races like Boston’s.

In Los Angeles, labor-aligned super PACs outspent Wendy Greuel, the mayoral candidate they supported. Outside education groups poured millions into the city’s school committee races, with super PACs outspending candidates in the race by a five-to-one margin. In New York, opponents of Christine Quinn formed a super PAC that torpedoed Quinn’s mayoral hopes. Wealthy supporters of the vastly overmatched New York mayoral hopeful Joe Lhota successfully sued to overturn New York state’s limit on super PAC spending; Lhota’s opponent, Bill de Blasio, has benefitted from a huge spending effort by outside labor groups. The New York Times reported yesterday that the Koch brothers, financiers of the Tea Party movement, have jumped into local races in Iowa. In New Jersey, Democrats and labor unions are pouring millions in outside funds into state legislative races, in a bid to blunt Gov. Chris Christie’s hold over the state. Local political contests have never seen this kind of spending before, because before the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, most of it wasn’t legal. Now it’s the new normal.

–PAUL MCMORROW 

BEACON HILL

The State Ethics Commission proposes changes in regulations that will allow company owners to run for office even if their firms do business with the state or local government, CommonWealth reports.The Cape Cod Times report is here.

The Massachusetts Republican Party calls for a probe of Attorney General Martha Coakley’s campaign spending in the wake of reports that she used her federal campaign funds improperly, State House News reports.

The Berkshire Eagle supports a bill filed by State Auditor Suzanne Bump that would allow the auditor to monitor the Department of Revenue’s enforcement of tax breaks.

The state has set aside $2.6 million for a grant to help Brockton build 22 new units of affordable housing for homeless veterans.

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

State Rep. Bruce Ayers of Quincy is trying to stop the city of Boston from repairing the dilapidated Long Island Bridge, long a source of tension between the two cities because it is the only roadway to Boston-owned Long Island but can only be accessed through Quincy’s Squantum neighborhood and is not open to the public.

Town meeting in Hamilton rejects a $2.5 million swimming pool at a local park by two votes, the Salem News reports.

A Cambridge activist files zoning and open meeting law complaints against the city councilor who chairs the city’s ordinance committee.

Hanover officials are weighing the prospect of creating a municipal light company to combat costs and lengthy power outages, which would make it the first community in the state to create a power utility in more than 80 years though 41 other cities and towns operate one.

Somerset Town Meeting voters rejected a proposal to merge the elected treasurer and collector posts into a single appointed position despite a report from the state that said failure to do so could affect certification of the tax rate.

Trying to alleviate the bad taste from getting a parking ticket, a European cafe and bakery in New Bedford is offering a free egg tart to anyone bringing in a violation they receive from what businesses say is an increase in ticketing in the downtown area.

NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON

Newark’s new mayor is the anti-Cory Booker: “I don’t twit. I only walk. I don’t e-mail. I don’t Facebook.”

The Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association is challenging the NFL on its new rule that bars off-duty officers from bringing a concealed weapon into a stadium during games.

ELECTIONS

Boston’s mayoral hopefuls trade barbs on the eve of the city’s election. Marty Walsh talks about embracing the styles of Tom Menino and Ray Flynn. Joe Battenfeld takes up Menino’s slow, inevitable fade from the spotlight. Flynn, writing for the Herald, calls the race to succeed Menino “better than the Red Sox winning the World Series.” Time previews the mayoral race.

Boston should go all in on innovation, urges Jim Aloisi in his CommonWealth series on Boston mayoral races. CommonWealth’s John Prandato says the next mayor of Boston will have a key role to play on climate change. Emmett Folgert, the longtime director of the Dorchester Youth Collaborative, says the new mayor must commit to a comprehensive approach to quelling youth violence.

The Harvard Crimson has a nifty guide to help voters wade through the background and positions of the 25 candidates vying for nine for Cambridge City Council seats.

More than 700 people cast absentee ballots in the Lawrence mayoral race between incumbent William Lantigua and Dan Rivera. Despite the race’s high profile, the number is down 8 percent from the last election in 2009, the Eagle-Tribune reports.

CommonWealth’s Gabrielle Gurley discusses the Lawrence mayor’s race with Greater Boston’s Emily Rooney and Adam Reilly.

Terry McAuliffe, a former DNC head now running for governor of Virginia, embraces the political center against his Tea Party opponent, Ken Cuccinelli.

Bill de Blasio starts using the word “mandate.”

Detroit may elect its first white mayor in decades.

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Census data show more Americans working from home.

EDUCATION

Brockton school officials and social workers say the recent cuts in food stamp benefits have made families more reliant on free and reduced school lunch programs.

The Spirit of Knowledge charter school is closed down, but infighting continues among the staff as the dean of students accuses the school’s business director of an ethics violation for hiring her daughter to work at the school, the Telegram & Gazette reports.

HEALTH CARE

The District of Columbia may join New York City in raising the age to buy tobacco to 21.

TRANSPORTATION

Should TSA officers be armed?

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has declared Pilgrim power plant in Plymouth “underperforming” after an unplanned shutdown in August, a move that allows the NRC to increase inspections of the 40-year-old facility.

The state’s two largest utilities are making moves to increase the supply of natural gas to Massachusetts.

The Globe’s Christopher Rowland has the remarkable story of a prominent Harvard-affiliated climate-change denier.

A Boston effort asks people to just become a little greener.

The National Park Service wants people to stop feeding coyotes at Provincetown’s Herring Cove Beach.

A cosmic census finds there could be as many as 40 billion Earth-like planets in the galaxy, the New York Times reports.

Arnold (yes, that Arnold) was made an honorary US Forest Ranger for his work on climate change.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

The Boston Police Department is adding some military-style, high-powered weaponry to its arsenal.

The lawyer for an Andover man accused of taking pictures up women’s skirts in the subway tells the state Supreme Judicial Court that women can not expect privacy in a public place, the Eagle-Tribune reports.

MEDIA

The first shoe has dropped at the former Dow Jones papers, bought by the owners of GateHouse Media, with layoffs at the Cape Cod Times and the Standard Times in New Bedford. But the Boston Business Journal reports that the cuts spared reporters — so far.

The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit news outlet based in Austin, solicits sponsored content (meaning the person or company submitting the comment has to pay for it) for an opinion section of its website, the Nieman Journalism Lab reports.

The New York Post defends itself in a Boston Marathon bombing libel case by arguing its headlines don’t actually mean anything.