The New York Times delves into the Republican National Committee's fund raising turnaround since Reince Priebus took over the chairmanship of the organization and how by cutting spending to $84 million since the beginning of 2011, compared with the Democratic committee’s $122 million, has put the RNC in a much better financial situation heading into the 2012 election cycle.They also explain how Barack Obama is doing better in fund raising than Mitt Romney is doing but detail how that will change once one candidate is officially nominated as the Republican challenger against Obama in November.
The turnaround, while the focus of the NYT piece also highlights a few things when compared to previous reports of Obama's relationship with the DNC and his refusal to financially help Senate and House Democrats in the upcoming elections and how the teamwork mentality on the GOP side is an advantage to the "You're on your own" mentality Obama is operating under.
From the NYT piece yesterday:
The party has already begun preparing for joint fund-raising operations with Mr. Romney, who has secured pledges from some of his donors to write large checks to the Republican committee if he becomes the nominee.
Compare that to a piece from The Politico from March 5, 2012:
President Barack Obama has a bleak message for House and Senate Democrats this year when it comes to campaign cash: You’re on your own.
Democratic congressional leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, have privately sought as much as $30 million combined from Obama for America and the Democratic National Committee — a replay of the financial help they received from Obama in 2008 and 2010.
But that’s not going to happen, top Obama aides Jim Messina and David Plouffe told Reid and Pelosi in back-to-back meetings on Capitol Hill on Thursday, according to sources familiar with the high-level talks. It was a stark admission from a presidential campaign once expected to rake in as much as $1 billion of just how closely it is watching its own bottom line.
Despite the angst of some GOP supporters that claim the long protracted primary season will harm the party, once a candidate is officially nominated, the fund raising is guaranteed to improve for that candidate and the advantages go farther than just the presidential election in November.
The DNC pulled in more money but they also spent far more to date and that will continue because Senate Democrats must spend more to defend more than double the amount of seats than Senate Republicans have to. (23/10)
Senate composition:
Democrats hold 51 seats and there are two Independents that caucus with Democrats for the most part. Republicans hold 47 seats.
While the race to take control of the Senate in addition to thwarting Obama's reelection aspirations, may seem to make the job harder on the RNC and GOP supporters, the preplanned teamwork in comparison to the amounts of money the DNC will be forced to spend protecting their Senate majority, along with the dog eat dog method Obama is implementing with financial resources, hands a massive advantage to the Republican party as a whole for the 2012 elections.
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