GOP has party donation lead

NY Times:

For all the success that Democratic presidential candidates have had in raising money — taking in a combined total of over $500 million in the current race — the Republicans are beating them in one crucial area of fund-raising: the money being raised by the parties themselves.

The Democratic National Committee ended 2007 nearly flat broke, with cash of $2.9 million and debts of $2.2 million. Since then it has raised some money, paid down debt and managed to put $3.7 million in its piggy bank. This compares, however, with $25 million that the Republican National Committee has in cash on hand, after having raised $97 million since the beginning of 2007.

And with Senator John McCain now the presumptive Republican nominee, party officials started plotting with his campaign this week on deploying those resources against the well-financed Democratic candidacies of Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.

Already, President Bush, who spoke at 29 Republican fund-raisers and is credited with raising $63.5 million last year, is lined up for more R.N.C. fund-raising in the weeks ahead. This money is likely to provide the financial muscle for Mr. McCain to continue his attacks on both Democratic candidates.

“The Republican National Committee’s strength is an important indicator,” said Alex Conant, the R.N.C. spokesman. “The D.N.C. has had trouble raising money, and the R.N.C. is well-positioned to help our nominee financially. It is our mission to get McCain elected president, and that is our focus. Fund-raising is a priority.”

Such party money can play a vital role in presidential campaigns because candidates are barred from using money they raise for the general election until they are nominated at the conventions. So the party money is often used before then — as well as after — to finance advertisements, direct mail and, ultimately, get-out-the-vote efforts.

Democrats say their limited party fund-raising is a result of several factors, including the competition for dollars from the presidential candidates and the party’s Congressional fund-raising committees. And they also say the D.N.C. is hamstrung by its inability to raise money in any serious way without a presidential nominee to rally around.

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What has also become clear is that most of the money raised so far in this cycle by the candidates has already been spent and then some. More will have to be raised and spent in the coming weeks by both Obama and Clinton's campaigns. In the last two months they have raised and spent over $100 million and are still in a dead heat. It will be important for John McCain to stay on the attack in the coming weeks to keep himself in the news. As competitive as the GOP nomination battle was, McCain has probably spent less than 10 percent of what the Democrat leaders have. He even spent less than some of his competitors.