"The Hill" Newspaper is going to be an excellent source of inside info. Here is today's lead story.
GOP gains 2-to-1 edge in vulnerable House districts
By Hans Nichols and Peter Savodnik
Among House lawmakers who narrowly won their last race with 55 percent or less of the vote, Republican incumbents raised twice as much money than their Democratic counterparts in the first three months of the year.
Both the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) and the Democratic counter-Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) have been closely scrutinizing their vulnerable members? fundraising numbers for the first reporting quarter.
Federal Election Commission (FEC) reports show that in the House, the 23 vulnerable Republicans raked in an average of roughly $150,000. That?s nearly twice as much as the $70,000 raised by the 29 vulnerable House Democrats.
For lawmakers from at-risk seats, the new McCain-Feingold quarterly fundraising reports were a chance to ward off potential challengers by demonstrating an early show of strength ? a commitment to raise the money highly useful in trying to retain a competitive seat.
?It shows that our potentially vulnerable members are getting out there early to scare off some potential challengers,? said Carl Forti, spokesman for the NRCC. ?Incumbents are out there working hard to get reelected.?
But Democrats stress that the 2004 House races are still in their infancy, and charge that Republicans have more vulnerable freshmen who can easily adjust to the new reporting schedule.
They point out that many seasoned Democrats ? used to photo finish races ?haven?t adjusted their fundraising strategy or schedule to show strength under the March 31 filing deadlines.
?Our Democratic members in marginal districts have proven themselves to be very good fundraisers and have won their elections in both good and bad political environments,? said Greg Speed, a spokesman at the DCCC. ?Clearly, money alone won?t protect vulnerable Republicans.?
The quarterly reports did reveal some silver linings for some House Democrats. For example, Rep. Chris Bell (D-Texas) raised $127,094.
?The reaction from the DCCC is that they?re delighted with our work,? said John Michael Gonzalez, Bell?s chief of staff. ?There?s a lot of people you want to please when you come to Congress, and number one are your constituents. But it would be silly to think that we wouldn?t want to please the DCCC.? He added, ?They want to make sure that as many can pull their weight can and do pull their weight.?
There were some anomalies in each party. While Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) pulled in close to $500,000, Rep. Jim Leach (R-Iowa) raised only $25.
Of the Republicans who won with less than 50 percent, each raised more than $200,000 for an average of $243,993
The Senate, meanwhile, is a mixed bag.
While there are seven vulnerable Democrats and only three vulnerable Republicans, the Democrats enjoy a clear money edge.
The average Democrat in this category has about $3.4 million in the bank, FEC figures show.
By contrast, the three at-risk Republicans ? including Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who was appointed by her father, former Sen. and now Gov. Frank Murkowski?have only $896,816 cash on hand, on average.
But the Democrats? cash-on-hand figure plummets by nearly $2 million to about $1.5 million if Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is taken out of the equation.
Schumer?s approximately $14.8 million falls well beyond the range of $1 million-$2 million in which most senators find themselves.
Vulnerable Democrats also managed to raise more money in the first quarter of 2003, reeling in a total of about $4.5 million, with an average of about $753,000 a senator. That average figure does not include Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), who has channeled all his donations into his presidential coffers.
Republicans raised an average of about $419,000 per senator.
?When you consider the fact that Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress, one would think that Republicans would be outraising Democrats by a vast majority, when in fact it?s just the opposite,? Mike Siegel, communications director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said. ?We are prepared to run highly competitive races across the country.?
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