The Hill: Dem fundraising soars (Dem Senatorial Campaign Committee - DSCC)

[Pirate Smile]

Dem fundraising soars
By Alexander Bolton

Democratic senators have contributed far more from their personal campaign accounts to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) than Republicans have given its GOP counterpart, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), fundraising reports due out today show.

The numbers reveal that the Senate Democratic campaign’s money effort, under Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), has leapt ahead of its GOP counterpart both in its fundraising rate and in terms of cash on hand. That is a sharp turnaround from the equivalent stage of the 2004 election cycle, when the Republicans had raised $14.5 milllion and had $5.3 million on hand while the Democrats had raised $10.8 million and had $2.6 million left in the bank.

DSCC officials said Senate lawmakers have given $2.6 million to the party committee through the first quarter of the 2006 election cycle. That is expected to be considerably more than Republican senators’ contributions to the NRSC, GOP sources say.

-snip-
The figures reflect the fact that Senate Democrats have outraised Republicans in the first six months of this year, despite GOP control of the Senate. Usually, the majority party has a marked fundraising advantage because it controls the legislative agenda.

http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/072105/dem.html

[Norquist Nemesis]

1. Now Schumer will be the next target for smearing

The herd will be stampeding over this news trying to dig up every piece of dirt and ready to pounce on every syllable spoken.

We've got your back, Chuck!! (But be careful on small planes, please!)

[Pirate Smile]

2. Here are the actual numbers.

"The Democratic figure does not include $1 million that Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) gave late last year to the DSCC from the residue of his 2004 presidential bid."

-snip-
"Through June, the DSCC had raised $22.6 million while the NRSC had raised $20.9 million, say officials from both committees.

More significant than the Democrats’ $1.7 million advantage is that they now have $15.2 million on hand after the first six months of the year, while Republicans have $8 million.

One reason for the disparity is that Democrats were able to pay off their debt from 2004 before the start of the new cycle, a feat accomplished because of the efforts and gifts of individual senators, such as Kerry."

[goforit]

3. Shocking ...i say.

[seeminer21]

4. Hooray!

Go get 'em Howard!

[WhiteTara]

7. yes hooray for our side

and welcome to DU :hi: I hope the tide is turning. With so many new people on DU, I think that it is possible that we will be able to take back the house and/or the senate next year.

[Tamyrlin79]

5. The reason is this:

Raising money online has little "overhead". If you hold a big fancy republican dinner, you spend a nice chunk reserving the room, buying the food, paying for entertainment, etc. So, you profit from the event, but you still have to spend money to hold the event. For the Dems, who are moving more toward online fundraising, there is little overhead cost in raising money in this fashion: you just have to pay for clerks and such to process it when it comes in, which you'd have to do in the "big event" fundraiser, too. So, it makes sense that the Dems would, all other things being equal, would have a higher "on hand" number. I hardly think it is simply because of debt payoff (though i'd imagine that more than Kerry's money helped with that, too...)

Howard Dean began it, and now he's taken it to the DNC.This new way of raising money lifts all Dem boats, including the Senate Dems... And does it in a way that Republicans cannot easily mimick since they are so focused on astroturfing, rather than growing the grassroots.

[yorgatron]

6. Republican Senators need to keep cash reserves for themselves

you know,for defense attorneys and such...