Did your check bounce?:DNC Goes Into Debt to Fund Effort to Take Over Congress By Greg Giroux
Wed Nov 1, 2006
It may have taken a $4 million loan for them to do it, but the fundraisers at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) actually outdid their usually more prolific partisan counterparts at the Republican National Committee (RNC), in pre-election campaign finance reports covering the first 18 days of October.
The DNC, which trailed the RNC — and often by wide margins — through most of the cycle, reported $10.2 million in receipts from Oct. 1 to 18 to $8.4 million for the GOP committee, according to documents filed last week with the Federal Election Commission. The documents showed that the DNC took out the $4 million loan Oct. 18, the last day of the reporting period.
Even with that episodic edge, the DNC made only a nick in the big overall lead built up by the RNC. The Republican committee as of Oct. 18 had $207.9 million to $118.6 million for the DNC.
The RNC on Oct. 18 had $21.8 million available to spend, compared to $4.8 million for the DNC.
The Republican committee has since continued to unload its cash reserves, mainly on “independent expenditures” to assist the party’s prospects in key Senate races in Missouri, where Republican Sen. Jim Talent (news, bio, voting record) faces a difficult re-election race against Democratic state Auditor Claire McCaskill, and in Tennessee, where Republican ex-Chattanooga mayor Bob Corker is in a close race with Democratic Rep. Harold E. Ford (news, bio, voting record) Jr. for the seat of retiring Majority Leader Bill Frist.
p>• Oct. 1-18 receipts: $10.2 million
• Cycle to date receipts: $118.6 million
• Oct. 1-18 expenditures: $13.6 million
• Cycle to date expenditures: $119.9 million
• Cash, Oct. 18: $4.8 million
• Debt, Oct. 18: $4 million
Notable contributions from individuals:
• Daniel G. Cohen, founder and chairman of Cohen & Company and chairman of the board of directors of The Bancorp, Inc.: $25,000
• Earl Graves, founder and publisher of Black Enterprise magazine: $25,000
• Bruce A. Lehman, senior counsel at Akin Gump and a former assistant Commerce Secretary: $5,000
• Terry Lierman, chairman of the Maryland Democratic Party: $5,000
• Rosie O’Donnell, actress and talk-show host: $20,000
• Garry Trudeau, cartoonist: $20,000
• Maureen White, philanthropist: $16,000
Notable transfers to state Democratic Party committees:
• New Jersey: $1,788,695
• Pennsylvania: $1,619,624
• Missouri: $1,006,077
• Ohio: $741,141
• Washington: $701,834
• Rhode Island: $225,000
• Tennessee: $200,000
Republican National Committee
• Oct. 1-18 receipts: $8.4 million
• Cycle to date receipts: $207.9 million
• Oct. 1-18 expenditures: $12.9 million
• Cycle to date expenditures: $200.7 million
• Cash, Oct. 18: $21.8 million
• Debt, Oct. 18: $0
Notable contributions from individuals:
• James A. Baker, CEO of Baker Communications Inc.: $25,000
• Dixon Doll, cofounder and general partner of Doll Capital Management: $25,000
• Donald L. Evans, a former Commerce secretary: $5,000
• P. Robert Fannin, partner at Steptoe and Johnson: $25,000
• George Klein, chairman of Park Tower Group: $25,000
• Rockwell A. Schnabel, general partner at Trident Capital and a former U.S. Ambassador to the European Union: $10,000
Notable transfers to state Republican Party committees:
• Pennsylvania: $659,095
• Florida: $600,000
• Ohio: $502,800
• Missouri: $484,500
• Nevada: $246,360
• New Jersey: $188,100
Notable independent expenditures:
• Opposing Ohio Democratic Rep. Sherrod Brown (news, bio, voting record), who is challenging Republican Sen. Mike DeWine (news, bio, voting record): $727,377
• Opposing New York Democrat Jack Davis, who is challenging National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Thomas M. Reynolds in the 26th District: $229,361
• Opposing Missouri state Auditor Claire McCaskill, the Democratic nominee against Republican Sen. Jim Talent: $859,388 |
