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03-28-2008, 13:26 PM
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#1 (permalink)
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Burgomaster
Join Date: 08-02-03
Location: Minneapolis
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GOP State Parties Outraise Dems
Quote:
GOP State Parties Outraise Dems
By Reid Wilson
As national Democrats gloat about a massive fundraising advantage the party's House and Senate campaign committees hold over their GOP counterparts, the story on a statewide level is decidedly different, and local Republican parties could provide a key cash advantage in several states, reports filed with the Federal Election Commission show. In the forty three states where parties report their financial situations on a monthly basis, Republicans hold a cash advantage in twenty five, many of them battlegrounds that will feature prominently in both the presidential contest and in down-ballot races on which federal dollars can be spent.
While fundraising on behalf of the National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee has lagged far behind that of Democrats', some GOP donors frustrated with their party in Washington have found other outlets for their contributions. All told, Republican state parties raised nearly $13.4 million in federal dollars, known as "hard money," this cycle through February, while Democratic parties have hauled in $9 million in the same period, according to data compiled by one GOP operative and verified by Real Clear Politics.
Republican parties hold a bigger advantage in cash on hand, with $11.7 million in the bank compared with $6.65 million for Democrats. That's an average cash position of about $250,000 for the 47 parties that have reported contribution totals, better than Democrats' $141,000 average, money that can be used to influence voters choosing candidates for Congress or the White House.
Hard federal dollars are not the same as soft money that can only be spent on local races and are subject to different reporting laws and contribution limits. In most cases, party committees hold much more in those soft-dollar reserves than in federal accounts. In Florida, for example, the state Republican party has $964,000 available for federal races and $2.8 million in its state account as of the last reporting date, January 20.
But the federal dollars can matter. At a presidential level, John McCain can expect significant help in several states that President Bush won by narrow margins in both 2000 and 2004. The Florida Republican Party's federal haul is three times that of its Democratic counterpart, which had just $321,000 on hand through February. The Ohio Republican Party, devastated after losing the governor's mansion and a Senate seat in 2006, still holds a big cash advantage over the Ohio Democratic Party, with $207,000 in the bank compared with Democrats' $83,000. And in Pennsylvania, the Republican Party's advantage approaches a ten-to-one ratio, with the GOP's reserves at nearly $420,000 compared with Democrats' $45,000.
In those states that money can be used on Congressional elections as well, as all three feature races in which both parties are playing offense and defense. Elsewhere, Republican woes at the NRCC could be somewhat offset in states like Nevada, where Rep. Jon Porter finds himself a target of national Democrats. The Nevada GOP has $75,000 in hard dollars, compared with a Democratic federal account that is $2,000 in the red and boasts another $53,000 in debt. In Texas, where Republicans have targeted Democratic Reps. Nick Lampson and Ciro Rodriguez, the state party can pick up where the NRCC falls short, leveraging some of their $873,000 in federal money while Democrats have just $108,000 to work with.
The brightest spot for Republicans is in Minnesota, the site of this year's Republican National Convention. The state party in the North Star State has $3.3 million in the bank, the only national party to surpass seven figures. Florida is just shy of the magic $1 million mark, while Texas and South Carolina, a Republican Party with $549,000 in the bank, round out the top four.
On the Democratic side, the Iowa state party, buoyed by heavy investments from presidential candidates shelling out cash for voter databases that cost up to $100,000, leads the nation with $773,000 in hand for federal races. Massachusetts and Illinois are the only other parties with federal bank accounts north of $500,000.
Massachusetts Democrats and South Carolina Republicans will find themselves the recipients of a number of phone calls as parties in more competitive states assess their own federal dollar situations. In both states, no Congressional seats are in serious play and their party's nominees will likely carry each with ease. Thanks to federal election law, those state parties can transfer their federal money to other states virtually without restriction. Frequently, those hard dollars are traded for similar amounts of soft dollars; such quid pro quo is not covered under current law, FEC spokesman Bob Biersack said.
Bay State Democrats may decide that, instead of spending their money in-state, Virginia Democrats, for example, could use it more. The commonwealth, expected to be a presidential battleground in November, features a Democratic Party with just $46,000 in the bank. Palmetto Republicans, on the other hand, could help out their brethren in West Virginia, which has picked the winner in each of the last four elections but where the state GOP has only $32,000 to spend on federal elections, or in Michigan, a perennial GOP target but where the state party has only $48,000 in their federal accounts.
There is no ready explanation for the discrepancy between state party fundraising successes and the difficulties faced by national campaign committees. But whether it is wide-spread discontent with Republicans in Washington, that nebulous group of miscreants surely different from local members of Congress, or simply fundraising plans more closely resembling that of the Republican National Committee, which has out-raised the DNC consistently, state Republican parties are finding some measure of success that is eluding their Democratic counterparts.
An advantage of $5 million in state party bank accounts will not erase the massive deficiencies Republican campaign committees face; the NRCC has just $5.1 million in the bank compared with $38 million for the DCCC, and the NRSC has $15.3 million compared with the DSCC's $32.8 million. But in some small way, Republican state parties are finding a way to raise money even facing such a poor climate, and that may indicate that donors to the cash-strapped party will return eventually. For the moment, it is a rare point of optimism for a party that has had trouble coming up with things to stay positive about.
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RealClearPolitics - Articles - GOP State Parties Outraise Dems
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The Buck Stops Here
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04-04-2008, 09:48 AM
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#2 (permalink)
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Banished
Join Date: 04-04-08
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Will they use this money to block get out the vote efforts by the other side....again
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