RNC Outraises DNC Five Times
Via The Moderate Voice comes the news that the Republican National Committee has outraised the Democratic National Committee five times. As Joe Gandelman points out, Democrats who were bragging that their man Barack Obama would outspend John McCain considerably may be wise to stop bragging for a little while; the RNC has said it will use its money to help ‘level the playing field.’
Based on the numbers so far, the Republican Party appears poised to act as the financial equalizer in the fall campaign. The RNC disclosed that it ended May with $53.5 million in the bank, compared to $3.9 million for the Democratic National Committee, which is headed by Howard Dean.
McCain, an Arizona senator, had $31.6 million as of May 31, compared with $33.3 million for Obama, Federal Election Commission records show. The RNC had $53.5 million to just under $4 million for the Democrats. The party committees act as shadow campaigns, concentrating their efforts on backing the presidential candidates.
Obama is a better fundraiser, but McCain seems to know how to spend his money quite well. He has to learn this last year of course, since he was practically broke at that time.
If the RNC helps McCain, Obama’s financial advantage will be less than most thought only a few days ago.
The question is why the RNC has been able to raise so much money, while McCain has stayed somewhat behind; this while the situation is reversed with the Democrats. One gets the impression that the answer is quite simple; many hard core conservatives aren’t very supportive of McCain, but they do support the Republican Party. So they give to the RNC. Obama, on the other, has many passionate supporters who choose to donate money to him, instead of to the DNC (you can only donate your money once of course).
The thing is that the money the party has is also used to support other candidates. While the Democratic party is committed to spending twice what it has in hand just to put on the convention, the republicans will not only be able to back up McCain, but they will also be able to provide more support for candidates in tight races elsewhere.