Each party maintains three strategic funds in Washington, which can be used for general party building, to target vulnerable candidates in the opposition party, to prop up endangered candidates, and to provide last-minute punch when opportunities arise or urgent defenses need to be mounted.
For Democrats, the Democratic National Committee is the only weak spot. It is down about 600K in income compared to this point in 2006 and is behind its counterpart Republican National Committee by about 37M. RNC’s cash on hand advantage is significant, too, a lead of 18.7M. However, last time around it had a much bigger advantage to work with in both categories, and has seen its income drop almost 22M, and it’s 17M behind where it was at this point in the last election cycle in the unspent category.
The Democratic Senate Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee have both made significant income gains over the last cycle, while the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee have gone decidedly in the opposite direction. And the cash-on-hand situation greatly favors the Democrats, who hold at 30.5M to 13.2M advantage in the Senate and an enormous 35.5M to 6.4M in the House.
RBR/TVBR observation: Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean has been bullheaded pursuing his goal of making Democrats competitive in all 50 states, which is one reason why the DNC’s cash on hand total is so low. It is also no doubt a big reason why he has no interest in funding a make-up primary for Florida Democrats. Meanwhile, the NRCC is in the grip of an accounting scandal — it is serious enough that the FBI is taking a look into the matter.
This is where a lot of the last-minute political buys will be coming from, especially if you’re in a district that wasn’t on anybody’s map but suddenly proves to be competitive. Three-cycle totals for all six committees are under the click. With the Dems holding a 69.0M-41.4M advantage in cash on hand, even with the DNC’s deficiencies, it is yet another sign that this will not be a good year for Republicans.
| 2008 | 2006 | 2004 | |
| DNC income | $60.546M | $61.142M | $49.437M |
| DNC outlay | $61.237M | $60.288M | $37.247M |
| DNC cash on hand | $3.019M | $6.905M | $13.761M |
| RNC income | $97.485M | $119.302M | $122.147M |
| RNC outlay | $78.825M | $95.081M | $87.622M |
| RNC cash on hand | $21.768M | $38.888M | $39.389M |
| DSCC income | $59.334M | $45.714M | $24.069M |
| DSCC outlay | $28.922M | $20.618M | $21.489M |
| DSCC cash on hand | $30.476M | $25.453M | $2.617M |
| NRSC income | $35.388M | $39.927M | $29.180M |
| NRSC outlay | $22.259M | $29.301M | $20.270M |
| NRSC cash on hand | $13.239M | $11.543M | $9.667M |
| DCCC income | $71.464M | $45.465M | $30.160M |
| DCCC outlay | $36.780M | $31.425M | $24.412M |
| DCCC cash on hand | $35.493M | $15.699M | $6.627M |
| NRCC income | $53.348M | $68.711M | $77.235M |
| NRCC outlay | $48.340M | $52.121M | $69.715M |
| NRCC cash on hand | $6.410M | $19.776M | $9.785M |
Source: Federal Election Commission
