Democrat fund raising problems

Chris Cillizza:

President Obama will headline a fundraising dinner tonight to benefit Democrats' House and Senate campaign arms but the relatively modest haul expected -- $3 million -- is the latest piece of evidence that the party's expected fundraising advantage over Republicans has yet to materialize.

"With the White House and Congress, you'd think that Governor [Tim] Kaine and the DNC would be breaking all kinds of records," said one prominent Democratic fundraiser granted anonymity to speak candidly.

Over the first four months of 2009, the Republican National Committee had raised nine million more than the Democratic National Committee and had more than double the amount of cash in the bank -- $24.4 million to $9.1 million.

Congressional Republicans were also surprisingly competitive with their Democratic counterparts. The National Republican Senatorial Committee had raised just $800,000 less than the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee as of the end of April and the two organizations had almost equal amounts of cash on hand. On the House side, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee outraised the National Republican Congressional Committee two to one but showed just $300,000 more on hand at the end of April.

...

While Cillizza gives various explanations for the discrepancy, I think he misses the obvious answer. The Republicans are more motivated to change the government. Their donors are trying to turn things around, while Democrats are still enjoying their last victories. Change can motivate both sides and right now that is pushing in the GOP's direction.

Politico reports that the Democrats are getting around restrictions on contributions from lobbyist, by scheduling another event the next day.