As promised. Short version: DNC beat RNC, NRSC edged DSCC, DCCC edged NRCC, and cash on hand would worry me more if the GOP hadn’t just removed the NJ & VA governorships from the Democrats and essentially handed NY-23 as part of a unfortunate but necessary life lesson to the GOP leadership.
| RNC | 9.06 | 11.29 | 0.00 |
| DNC | 11.58 | 12.96 | 4.40 |
| NRSC | 4.00 | 5.80 | 0.00 |
| DSCC | 3.70 | 11.30 | 2.00 |
| NRCC | 3.44 | 4.17 | 2.00 |
| DCCC | 3.76 | 14.52 | 3.34 |
| GOP | 16.5 | 21.26 | 2.00 |
| Dem | 19.04 | 38.78 | 9.74 |
It’s that time again. Short version: RNC beat DNC, but DSCC & DCCC significantly outraised their counterparts - sufficiently so that the Democrats raised more overall for the month. When debt is factored in, the Democrats also went from being significantly behind on cash-on-hand to being slightly ahead. That being said: the RNC and NRCC are both reporting significant increases in small-person donors.
| Raised | CoH | Debts | |
| RNC | 9.05 | 18.90 | 0.00 |
| DNC | 8.20 | 14.90 | 5.03 |
| NRSC | 3.20 | 5.20 | 0.00 |
| DSCC | 5.90 | 10.30 | 2.50 |
| NRCC | 3.41 | 4.32 | 2.00 |
| DCCC | 7.00 | 14.70 | 4.00 |
| GOP | 15.66 | 28.42 | 2.00 |
| Dem | 21.1 | 39.9 | 11.53 |
A regular reader of mine might be forgiven for wondering why there’s any sort of surprised tone in this Washington Post article.
Democrats Are Jarred by Drop In Fundraising
Democratic political committees have seen a decline in their fundraising fortunes this year, a result of complacency among their rank-and-file donors and a de facto boycott by many of their wealthiest givers, who have been put off by the party’s harsh rhetoric about big business.
The trend is a marked reversal from recent history, in which Democrats have erased the GOP’s long-standing fundraising advantage. In the first six months of 2009, Democratic campaign committees’ receipts have dropped compared with the same period two years earlier.
After all, the people reading this post already know all of this. The ongoing fundraising situation has been regularly reported on here, here, here, here, here (all of which also compared points in this cycle to the equivalent points in the last one), here, and here - and also here for the state of the parties’ financial status at the end of 2008. Readers of both RedState and my own personal website have been kept apprised that Democratic fundraising has been consistently below last cycle’s expectations, and that the GOP has been overperforming (compared to largely media-driven expectations) - and that the amount of debt that the Democratic party has chosen to retain is warping its cash-on-hand numbers (which is something that the above article neglects to mention). So why is the Washington Post apparently discovering this now?
Oh, right: because I’m not a ‘journalist.’ Just somebody who was paying attention.
Moe Lane
*Thank you, Virginia Postrel.
PS: [Rather brazen call for filthy lucre relocated to here.]
Wouldn’t you know it: I decide not to do anything consequential and the fundraising numbers become available. Short version: the GOP out-raised the Democrats for the first time since April; the NRSC beat out the DSCC for the second month; the NRCC continues to stay essentially tied with the DCCC; and the Democrats aren’t paying their debt down.
| Raised | CoH | Debts | |
| RNC | 7.87 | 20.97 | 0.00 |
| DNC | 6.89 | 15.34 | 5.33 |
| NRSC | 3.10 | 5.10 | 0.00 |
| DSCC | 2.20 | 6.70 | 2.90 |
| NRCC | 3.15 | 4.20 | 2.00 |
| DCCC | 3.30 | 10.73 | 4.67 |
| GOP | 14.12 | 30.27 | 2.00 |
| Dem | 12.39 | 32.77 | 12.90 |
The excitement this morning on Twitter seems all about Mike Huckabee. There has been no doubt in my mind that he never stopped running for President after conceding the nomination to John McCain last year. He just changed which Presidential election he was running in.
Which is why it was such a huge (but very silly, given the timing) argument late last year over who “came in second” in the primary race, and by proxy who the early 2012 “frontrunner” was going to be. Mitt Romney had a dedicated core of supporters fighting for him, and so did Huckabee. Some of them on each side just wouldn’t give up, while the rest of us just got back to work.
It appears that Mike Huckabee himself got back to work as well. Gone is the religious demagoguery from the campaign, as are the left-wing economic ideas he was pushing. Instead we have a man who’s fighting the embattled Barack Obama on his reckless spending and disastrous foreign policy, and the Democrats apparently are scared by it. In 2008 the Democrats loved him, but in 2009 they hate him. That in itself is a change that speaks well of Huckabee’s future hopes.
Republicans are creatures of habit. We tend to like seeing the same batches of people in one primary after another, and eventually the stable, persistent men get their shot. Even John McCain got his. But if Mike Huckabee wants to try for his, there is one more thing he needs to do: Help us take back the House.
As of a month ago, his PAC raised over $300,000. That money needs to get out to Repubican challengers nationwide, with less of a Southern bias than he now shows. Democrats took the House by challenging everywhere, and so will we. Reports are that Huckabee plans to back 50 candidates with his PAC. I hope he does, and I hope he funnels substantial amounts of money to each both through the PAC, and through direct (and free) fundraising stops.
If Mike Huckabee can be a rainmaker for Republicans who take back the House, then yes, Huckabee becomes a leading man in the Republican party and will be excellently positioned to run again in 2012. By proving he could raise money and be a genuine party leader, he will have earned it.
That is the missing piece for Mike Huckabee, and I truly hope he fits it into place.
Short version: Democrats had a good month for the DNC - they beat out the RNC for a change - which was enough to let them end with a edge in amount raised and total cash-on-hand of a couple million. Fortunately, July fundraising for the congressional and senatorial committees was not a repeat of June’s: despite their having a significant edge in membership, the DSCC lagged the NRSC and the DCCC barely edged the NRCC. And the debt still remains significant on the Democrats’ side.
| Raised | CoH | Debts | |
| RNC | 6.26 | 21.84 | 0.00 |
| DNC | 9.29 | 16.32 | 5.13 |
| NRSC | 2.75 | 4.43 | 0.00 |
| DSCC | 2.04 | 7.15 | 3.33 |
| NRCC | 3.08 | 4.01 | 2.75 |
| DCCC | 3.20 | 10.22 | 5.30 |
| GOP | 12.09 | 30.28 | 2.75 |
| Dem | 14.53 | 33.69 | 13.76 |
Short version: the Democrats had a good month in their Congressional/Senatorial Committee fundraising (double their previous month’s totals, as well as double their Republican counterparts); the RNC is back to outraising the DNC; cash on hand is at parity, except that the GOP is running with a debt that’s 1/10th of their total and the Democrats are running with one that’s half; and this is all very different than this time in 2007.
| Raised | CoH | Debts | |
| RNC | 8.00 | 23.70 | 0.00 |
| DNC | 6.75 | 13.03 | 4.91 |
| NRSC | 3.40 | 4.30 | 0.00 |
| DSCC | 6.20 | 7.90 | 3.70 |
| NRCC | 3.14 | 4.16 | 3.25 |
| DCCC | 7.10 | 9.70 | 6.00 |
| GOP | 14.54 | 32.16 | 3.25 |
| Dem | 20.05 | 30.63 | 14.61 |
Let’s start with the NRCC’s incentive program for last-minute 2Q donations that they announced yesterday:
Every dollar you give through tomorrow, June 30th, will be quadrupled. So if you give $5, we’ll make it $20. If you can afford $25, we’ll make it $100.
That’s four times the impact of a normal contribution, and it will be put to immediate use replacing Pelosi’s puppets in Congress with principled, conservative Republicans.
At this point, somebody has reflexively started a very long comment on why this offer should be ignored. While he’s writing it, let me explain why you shouldn’t.
Yup, it’s that time again. Short version: the DNC beat the RNC last month, thanks to a Presidential fundraiser; but the NRSC actually raised more money last month than the DSCC; and the DCCC raised only about 200K more than the NRCC. While the cash-on-hand edge for the GOP is less than it was last month’s, it’s because the Democrats are still not retiring their debt, which is 4x the GOP’s.
| Group | Raised | CoH | Debt |
| RNC | 5.82 | 21.55 | 0.00 |
| DNC | 8.37 | 12.14 | 5.60 |
| NRSC | 3.50 | 3.70 | 0.00 |
| DSCC | 3.45 | 4.00 | 4.17 |
| NRCC | 3.24 | 3.73 | 4.00 |
| DCCC | 3.44 | 5.01 | 6.67 |
| GOP | 12.56 | 28.98 | 4.00 |
| Democrats | 15.26 | 21.15 | 16.44 |
When Democrats gained a firm lock on all the power in Washington, one thing that seemed sure to follow was a huge edge in fundraising. After all, Barack Obama is a one-man money machine, and Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi would surely be able to raise tons of cash from industries worried how Congress might treat them. Instead, their fundraising has been lackluster - and Barack Obama doesn’t seem to be helping:
Thursday night’s joint Democratic fundraiser headlined by President Barack Obama is expected to bring in a total of $3 million for the two Democratic campaign committees, according to a party strategist familiar with the event.
The figure is surprisingly low considering Obama’s vaunted fundraising ability during the 2008 presidential campaign and the fact that this is the first joint fundraiser benefiting Congressional Democrats since the party regained control of the White House. It’s also about $11.5 million less than what GOP officials said they raised last week for the National Republican Congressional Committee and National Republican Senatorial Committee at a dinner featuring former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.)…
After boldly promising to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and reverse “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the ban on openly gay and lesbian service members, gay voters, en bloc, went to the polls for then-Senator Barack Obama. But following months of concealing their bitter disappointment, gay rights advocates have begun publically airing their grievances with the Obama Administration over its concerning pace of progress on gay rights issues.
Yesterday, amid fears neither of those lofty campaign pledges may be actualized, Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solomnese penned a stinging open letter to President Obama in response to a brief filed by the Department of Justice that defended DOMA’s legitimacy.
Concerned the President does not view gay men and women as “human beings whose lives, loves, and families are equal” to his own, Solomnese mockingly offered to “reintroduce” the LGBT community to their capricious ally in the White House.
Very shortly: it’s good news for the GOP, with the partial exception of the NRCC.
RNC/DNC, February (Via Hot Air)
The RNC raised 5.10 million, has 24 million cash-on-hand, and no debt.
The DNC raised 3.26 million, has 8.6 million cash-on-hand, and has 6.9 million in debt.
NRSC/DSCC, February
The RSCC raised 2.87 million, has 1.05 million cash-on-hand, and has 2.7 million in debt (drawn down).
The DSCC raised 2.87 million, has 2.91 million cash-on-hand, and has 10.9 million in debt (no debt retired).
NRCC/DCCC, February
The NRCC raised 2.03 million, has 1.85 million cash-on-hand, and has 6.4 million in debt.
The DCCC raised 3.48 million, has 2.91 million cash-on-hand, and has 15.09 million in debt.
Via Andrew Malcolm we see that Obama’s first Presidential fundraiser is scheduled for March 25th, for the DNC. Currently, the Democrats are trying to lower expectations, which… doesn’t mean much of anything, really. They did a lot of that last year to heighten their eventual totals, and it worked out pretty well for them.
