DEMOCRATS SUCK UP MORE MONEY THAN EVEN THE GROTESQUELY CORRUPT REPUBLICANS

As someone fervently hoping to wake up on that special Wednesday morning in November and find that the Republicans have been reduced to a rump annoyance in the House and to less than 40 in the Senate, maybe I should be happy that campaign contributions have continued to flood into the DCCC and the DSCC and slow to a relative trickle-- well a steady trickle-- to their 2 GOP counterpoints. But I'm not. First of all, what this means is that "smart money" recognizes that the Republican brand is a lost cause and that they need to buy a piece of the very much for sale Democratic brand. Oh, whoopee! With intermediaries like Rahm Emanuel, Chuck Schumer, Steny Hoyer, the Blue Dogs and the DLC, how long will it be before the Democrats are espousing "solutions" to the nation's problems almost as bad as the Republicans'?

Today's Congressional Quarterly has two reports on fundraising, one from the House committees and one for the Senate committees. Let's look at the situation in the House campaign first, the one that will seek to make sure unpopular Democrats who always vote with the GOP-- like Jim Marshall (GA), John Barrow (GA), Chris Carney (PA), Nick Lampson (TX)-- get massive infusions of DCCC cash from grassroots progressives who disagree with them on virtually everything and thereby keep their seats. The DCCC raked in $10.1 million in March, while the NRCC managed $7.1 million. The DCCC is now sitting on a warchest of $44.3 million and the Repugs have $7.2 million. "The cash-rich DCCC will begin to spend these tens of millions of dollars this fall, primarily to air television and radio advertisements and publish mail pieces in districts in which Republicans are the defending party."

The DCCC collected more money from individual donors and more money from members of Congress. So far the DCCC has collected $87.6 million this year (and spent $44 million), while the NRCC took in $65 million and spent $58.5 million (and I'm not sure if that includes the vast sums that were embezzled by its former treasurer, though probably not).

The Democratic members who gave the most in March:
Robert Brady (PA)- $200,000
Dave Obey (WI)- $200,000
Ed Pastor (AZ)- $150,000
William Clay (MO)- $150,000
Ellen Tauscher (CA)- $106,000
Nydia M. Velazquez (NY)- $106,000
Charles Rangel (NY)- $100,000
Martin Meehan (MA)- $100,000
Howard Berman (CA)- $85,710
Lois Capps (CA)- $85,700
Russ Carnahan (MO)- $71,420
Tammy Baldwin (WI)- $66,650
Danny Davis (IL)- $64,275
Tim Ryan (OH)- $50,000
Sheila Jackson Lee (TX)- $50,000
Richard Neal (MA)- $50,000
Nancy Pelosi (CA)- $50,000
Lincoln Davis (TN)- $50,000
Sander Levin (MI)- $50,000
Ike Skelton (MO)- $50,000
Rahm Emanuel (Darkness)- $50,000
Dennis Cardoza (CA)- $50,000
G.K. Butterfield (NC)- $50,000
Allen Boyd (FL)- $50,000
Xavier Becerra (CA)- $50,000

The GOP had much less luck gathering donations from it's dispirited and endangered members. Only 4 Republicans went over the $50,000 mark:
GOP closet queen David Dreier (CA)- $165,000
retiring GOP closet queen Jim McCrery (LA)- $100,000
Howdy Doody (FL)- $80,000
Wally Herger (CA)- $60,000

The story on the Senate side was equally grim for the GOP, where they were outraised by the Democrats nearly 2-1-- DSCC, $8.2 million and NRSC, $4.2 million.

The DSCC’s cash advantage is but one reason why it appears that the Democrats will retain their majority in the November elections-- and probably increase it. The Republicans are the defending party in 23 states, including five in which a Republican senator is retiring; the Democrats are the incumbent party in just 12 states, and all of their senators whose seats are up this year are seeking new terms. More Republican senators are at risk of losing their seats than Democratic senators.

The Senate reports indicate that the Democrats continue to outperform their Republican counterparts in attracting money from senators, who are permitted to transfer unlimited sums to national party committees from their personal campaign committees. Though their contributions amounted to a small percentage of the DSCC’s overall receipts, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Ron Wyden of Oregon each transferred $100,000 to the Senate Democrats’ political arm in March. Pryor is up for re-election this year, but the Republicans are not fielding a candidate to oppose him.

No Republican senator reported transferring funds to the NRSC last month from his or her personal campaign committee, though some senators did give the maximum annual contribution of $15,000 via their leadership political action committees.

The DSCC gave $39,900 apiece in March to the Senate campaigns of Jeanne Shaheen, a former New Hampshire governor who is challenging Republican Sen. John E. Sununu, and Tom Udall, a five-term representative from New Mexico who is the presumed Democratic nominee for the Senate seat of retiring Republican Pete V. Domenici.

So far in this cycle the DSCC has scooped up $72.4 million and spent $34.6 million (mostly to state Democratic Party organizations in states with hot contests-- Maine, Colorado, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Louisiana and Alaska plus to one state that was once thought to present a challenge but fizzled: South Dakota), while the NRSC has taken in $43.6 million and spent $26.3 million.