CNBC poses a provocative question: Is Goldman Sachs losing clout in Washington? It's fair to say the firm has lost a lot of its cachet in the capital. Some consider it almost toxic.

In this election year, almost two dozen candidates have refused Goldman campaign contributions or donated them to charity. Other candidates have used their opponent's Goldman linkages to paint them as greedy fat cats out of touch with society.

At the bureaucratic level, officials will have to think twice about stuffing their top positions with Goldman alums, something that Henry Paulson raised to an art form when he ran Treasury. The optics of such appointments just wouldn't be right.

So at first glance, you would have to think that Goldman alums will have a reduced influence footprint in government. And in the minds of some that translates into less influence for the firm itself. But in Washington, like never before, money talks.

Public Campaign, a campaign finance reform group, tells CNBC that Goldman Sachs and its executives "have spent $32 million on campaign contributions in the past 20 years. They are the top giver within the financial sector to candidates and incumbents in Congress." And that's not likely to change.

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