Posted on 07/24/2007 7:56:03 AM PDT by Anti-Bubba182
From almost any angle, Republicans are facing a Democratic financial tsunami in 2008.
In the first six months of this year, Democratic federal candidates and the party's three national committees raised $381 million compared with the $291 million their counterparts collected. That amounts to a $90 million advantage and means that 57 percent of the total raised by all political candidates and committees has gone to the Democrats.
And that's the good news for Republicans.
When the cash on hand is added up for presidential, House and Senate candidates, as well as the party committees, the picture is even bleaker. Overall, Democrats reported having $314 million in cash compared with the Republicans' $190 million, which means that 62 percent of the political cash is now held in Democratic accounts.
What does that mean at political micro-levels? The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has a 10-1 cash advantage over its Republican adversary, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has a cash advantage that is three times greater than the National Republican Senatorial Committee's take.
In the presidential field, the Democrats' two top candidates -- Sens. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) -- each have nearly as much money in the bank as the combined savings of the entire 2008 Republican field. The 10 Republicans running for president reported a combined total of $36 million cash on hand; Obama has $35 million and Clinton has $33 million available for the primary race.
"I cannot remember a time when the Democrats have had an advantage in the party committees and at the candidate level at the same time," said Michael J. Malbin, executive director of the nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute.
Certainly, money alone doesn't win elections. Campaign trails leading to the Oval Office and to the lowly House echo with the tales of well-funded campaigns that met early ends. Among the most notable: Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean's 2004 presidential primary bid.
But money does create options, and at this pace, the Democrats see theirs growing, while the Republicans may well be losing some.
Take a look at the House. In January, newly selected DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen (Md.) laid out a plan to defend his vulnerable freshmen while simultaneously attacking Republicans who eked through last November. "If we continue the current pace, we will have the resources to fully support that strategy," he said. Meanwhile, Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), who heads the National Republican Congressional Committee, started the year with quite a different set of priorities: Pay off the committee's debt and then start tucking money away for the campaign season.
Cole has made good on his promise. The committee has raised $29 million and spent $27 million. Today, it has got $2 million in the bank and $4 million in debts outstanding, according to its reports. Cole seems on track to move the committee's balance from red to black by year's end.
But that's when the hard slog begins, because the Democrats' edge isn't just the byproduct of high energy within their ranks. The long-feared Republican fundraising machine also appears to be in decline. While the Republican National Committee has maintained its dominance over the Democratic National Committee, raising $45 million to the DNC's $27 million, even that edge is on the lower end of historic patterns.
And consider this: When President Bush was running for reelection in 2004, his appearance at the RNC's annual spring gala raised $38.5 million. During last year's congressional campaign season, the presidential gala raised $17 million. This year, it raised $10.5 million.
In addition, the loss of control of Congress has stripped Republicans of one of their most lucrative fundraising assets: committee chairmanships. According to a Center for Inquiry study released last week, corporate donors have made a seismic shift since January toward the new Democratic chairmen. In the first six months of this year, political action committees donated $41 million to Democrats, compared with $24 million for Republicans. During the previous year, Republicans received $32 million in PAC contributions, compared with $22 million for the Democrats, the report concluded.
The presidential campaign season also looms as an obstacle to congressional fundraising. In private conversations, Republican fundraising experts dismiss the yawning gap between their primary field and the Democrats' roster. "When the nominee becomes clear, he will have all the resources he needs," said one longtime Republican operative.
History supports that notion. After scraping through hard times in the 2003 Democratic primary, Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) found himself flush with cash -- even matching the Bush-Cheney machine -- when he swept the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries.
But that gush of money does not automatically extend to the congressional committees. Van Hollen said he spends plenty of time these days warning donors: "Do not take the House for granted. Things can change quickly."
Even if the money rolls in, managing it frugally can be crucial. In the 2006 cycle, the Republican House committee raised more than the Democrats. What both sides said helped tip the scales in many races was that the Democrats outspent the Republicans in the final weeks of that contentious campaign cycle.
How did they manage that? They had more cash in the bank.
I think Hillary has no chance of winning. Despite the 527 media and the cash raised, once Americans see how shrill, disrespectful, rude, and fake she is, she’s toast. Mitt, Fred, Rudy, any of those guys will mop the floor with her. Hillary is simply unelectable. However I do hope the Dems nominate her - it’ll be like McGovern in 1972.
I, for one, am not just holding Bush responsible. They have pi$$ed off many of the conservative base like me, and we are holding back on our money until they come up with a decent front-runner and start dancing again with “those of us what brung em to the dance.”
If those two things happen, the floodgates of money will swing wide open early next year. But they had better straighten up fast or we might as well elect the Rats, because, as George Wallace put it, “there hasn’t been a dime’s worth of difference” between the Rats and Pubbies lately.
Thats how I see it playing out as well.
This Club For Growth thing, that only a handful have heard of . . . where have they filed the necessary forms showing professional audit of their books and publishing what % of money is consumed by “administrative costs”? I don’t care what the % is (though it does have to be competitive with other alternatives), but it is certainly imperative that it be published in major media and scrutinized to ensure it is not a scam.
The remarks made about the base, the name calling, the attack on guys like Limbaugh, the praise for illegals as being the backbone of America and such nonsense opened the eyes of the blind.
To go after talk radio was amazing to me. Talk radio got half these bums elected. Talk radio is the vehicle with which most of the opposition to the Socialist liberal agenda is fought.
The trust factor is gone from the base of the GOP. You can't just scream about Hillary or gay marriage or flatter us with what a good Christian you are. the GOP is in for a purging, but thats good. If you plant a tree you have to prune the dead and rotten branches out but the tree gets stronger, grows straighter and is healthier.
Democrats represent the "poor, working class", etc.
/sarc
This is what happens when you betray the principles you were elected to uphold.
Where is our Social Security and Tax reform we were promised?
Where is Immigration reform?
Where are real results in the Middle East?
Where are the elimination of unnecessary and unconstitutional government departments? Why are Clinton era programs like Americorp still being funded?
Unfortunately, Bush and the Republican Congress have squandered their chances to change the direction of the country through bickering, infighting, and stupidity. The drying up of the coffers is the ultimate result.
I still give to Republicans, but I give to local Republican candidates and to my local County Republican Party. The County parties don’t receive any money from the RNC and very little from the state Republican Party, yet we are still expected to have an office, office supplies, phones for phone banks, etc. I highly recommend donating your money to your local group. We need to build up our bench for the future.
If she wins the same states Kerry won and also takes Ohio (a strong probability right now), she's in. Which 2004 Kerry states are going to flip back to the Republican column simply because Hillary sounds shrill, disrespectful, rude and fake? She's a Democrat - she represents their government checks.
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, or even California might on the other hand flip Republican if Giuliani manages to overcome conservative objections and gain the nomination. But I don't see any of the other Republican candidates taking back any Kerry states at all. Romney isn't going to win Massachusetts. Thompson isn't going to win any Kerry states - his Hollywood presence won't deliver California, for example - the best he could do is hold the South and in particular Florida. Hunter would lose in his home state of California by at least 20 points.
And all of this is before factoring in the the epic levels of pro-Democrat vote fraud which we will surely see in 2008.
Hillary hasn't paid a price for her abrasiveness in the last fifteen years - the MSM certainly isn't going to stop minimizing it now.
The republican campaign committees that insist on doling out cash to RINO’s may as well shut down. The GOP base and supporters are no longer willing to go with a program that calls for them to support such candidates.
Hunter not a nut case.
Past leaders include Stephen Moore and Pat Toomey.
Some info with links here.
The Club for Growth opposed amnesty and securing the borders?
Nice guys come in last. Playing fair and making nice with Liberals loses you elections. Use the last election as an example. The conservative base has to have leaders at the top of the Party or we’re doomed. Spineless, gutless moderates and RINO’s are the root cause of why we are where we are today. Had the leadership informed the American people about the lies, distortions, and tricks of the Left, we wouldn’t be having this conversation today. When your enemy fights you from the gutter, you climb in and give them one hell of a fight back. Instead, the “make nice, civil” Republicans are destroying the Party and will, ultimately, allow our country to be destroyed by the Leftist morons who are anti-America, anti-military, traitors. I say to the leadership and to the base, wake up to reality and start fighting for what you believe in. Our brave troops are doing so in Iraq and Afganistan; the least you can do is fight the good fight here. Both are equally as important.
SECOND THAT!!!
Maybe the DIM’s think the election is this November?
BUT, the MSM has always said that raising lots of money by the GOP was an EVIL thing??
And now its good for the DNC?
< /s >
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