Democrats Make Big Gains in Fund-Raising
2006-10-20
Source: New York Times
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rss feedDemocrats raised $34 million in September and began whittling down the Republicans' financial advantage, according to finance reports to be filed on Friday. Yet Republicans still have more cash at their disposal as the midterm election campaign advances from television advertising wars to a battle of getting out the vote.
As optimism among Democrats has grown in recent weeks, the generosity of party contributors has followed suit, with the party's House campaign committee raising $14.4 million last month and the party's Senate committee raising $13.6 million. With the addition of the tally of the Democratic National Committee, the party's three main groups have outraised their Republican rivals by $3.5 million for the month.
"If you would have told me a year ago that the three Democratic committees would have raised more money than the three Republican committees, I would have said you're on a different planet," said Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. "People are feeling a real reason for change."
Still, the three Republican committees reported having cash-on-hand balances of $77.2 million at the end of September, compared with $67.3 million for Democrats. And the Republican National Committee raised $13 million in September compared with $5.6 million by the Democratic National Committee.
'September was the best financial month we've had this cycle," Ken Mehlman, the Republican chairman, said in an interview Thursday evening. "But they are going to outspend us. That's the whole reason why it is so important to build the turnout operation."
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