Republicans' Cash Advantage
2006-10-20
Source: Wall Street Journal
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rss feedThe Democratic Party's three major campaign committees raised more money last month than their Republican counterparts, slicing deep into a financial edge Republicans hoped would provide an advantage in the final weeks of the bruising campaign for the midterm elections.
According to the reports -- among the final tallies filed before Election Day -- the three Democratic committees collectively raised $33.6 million, compared with $30 million by the Republicans. The strong showing cut the cash-on-hand advantage Republicans had a month ago to about $10 million, or nearly half. That is money the committees can use to buy television and radio ads for candidates.
"If one party has fund-raising momentum, it's very helpful at this stage," said Michael Malbin, of the Campaign Finance Institute, a nonpartisan organization that tracks political money.
According to figures released yesterday, both the House and the Senate Democratic campaign committees raised more in September than the Republican National Committee, the party's fund-raising powerhouse.
House Democrats were the top money raisers, collecting $14.4 million, much of it through donations from incumbent members who aren't facing tough re-elections. Senate Democrats raised $13.6 million, through a mix of incumbent giving and a surge of individual donations. Committee Chairman Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) said the committee received $900,000 in direct-mail checks in a single day.
The two Democratic committees reported that at the end of September they had $36 million in cash for House races and $23 million for Senate campaigns. "We've always been worried they'd throw a lot of money into some blue [Democratic-dominated] states in the end. This gives us the ability to defend our blue states and go hard in the red [Republican] states," Mr. Schumer said.
The Democratic National Committee, which has lagged behind the congressional committees in fund raising, reported $5.6 million in donations and $8.2 million in cash. Beyond that, the DNC has taken out a loan for as much as $10 million, which essentially puts the party's cash position at parity with the Republicans in the final weeks of campaigning.
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