With a fat donor list left over from his two unsuccessful campaigns for governor, there’s no doubt Dino Rossi could raise a relatively large chunk of money relatively quickly should he choose to jump into the race against Democratic incumbent Sen. Patty Murray. But given Murray’s own fundraising prowess, and her $8.8 $9.8 million head start, it’s hard to see Rossi jumping into the fray without assurances of a substantial financial commitment from the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Yet given the electoral landscape and the status of their own fundraising efforts, it’s equally hard to see the NRSC being able to live up to the kinda commitment Rossi would require.
Indeed, the NRSC’s current cash-on-hand, about $15 million, actually trails its performance at the same point in both the 2006 and 2008 cycles, when it was sitting on $16.6 million and $17.3 million respectively. In case you forgot, those elections didn’t turn out too well for Republican incumbents and hopefuls, yet if you believe the NRSC’s tough talk, it’ll be spending its resources in even more competitive races than it did in either of those two cycles.
By comparison, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee continues to out-raise its Republican counterpart, and now enjoys $17.3 million cash-on-hand, a $2.3 million advantage.
Back in 2004, Murray ultimately raised over $13 million in her lopsided battle against the politically diminutive George Netthercutt, and with fundraising typically backloaded toward the final months of the campaign, there’s no reason to expect she won’t raise considerably more than that should she face a competitive challenger.
Can Rossi come close to funding parity in only five or six months? No. Can the NRSC afford to make up much of the difference? Not without drawing precious dollars away from more promising contests.
Rossi must know that. Thus as flattering as the NRSC’s attention surely has been, he must also know that he’s being asked to make a sacrifice for the good of the party, not the other way around. And I just don’t believe that’s a sacrifice — his gubernatorial ambitions — that he’s ready to make.
You’re really beating a dead horossi.
Speaking of Senate races, Nevada Republican John “I boinked my friend’s wife and got my parents to pay her off” Ensign is up for reelection in 2012. His 1Q/2010 quarterly submission to the FEC shows total contributions during January-March of $50.
That’s not $50K … it’s $50.00, in two $25.00 checks from the same donor. Total. For a three month period.
To put that in context, here’s what other 2012 Senate incumbents pulled in during 1Q/2010 (most of the Class of 2012, including WA’s Maria Cantwell, hadn’t yet filed their quarterly reports) — Joe Lieberman (I-CT) $4605, Tom Carper (D-DE) $67326, Richard Lugar (R-IN) $40538, Olympia Snowe (R-ME) $75800, Ben Cardin (D-MD) $71790, Scott Brown (R-MA) $256224, Jon Tester (D-MT) $107929, Ben Nelson (D-NE) $77750, Robert Menendez (D-NJ) $205775, Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) $21000, Sherrod Brown (D-OH) $170890, Bernie Sanders (I-VT) $23713, Jim Webb (D-VA) $222017.
Parenthetically, it’s good to see how little Holy Joe has pulled in up in the Nutmeg State. I have the feeling that he might actually leave the Senate voluntarily rather than kicking and screaming.
Maybe Rossi’s not running because he too plain vanilla in bed to be on the Republican ticket?
Rossi isn’t running because he’s the same sort of mealymouthed little cheesedick that convinced the US Senate to allow the Savings banks and the investment banks to merge and “police” themselves. He uses the same language and the same hairstylist.
Pure salesmenship isn’t the game as much as it was 5 years ago. People expect something more than shiny verbal defecations from candidates these days.
# 2: Jim Webb’s already raised over 2 million in one quarter? I don’t know who’s running against him, but he might very well become a powerhouse in Virginia.
I confess that I’m getting a bit confused. You have the RNC, and then seperate Republican committees to fund the Senate and House campaigns, as well as the candidate’s own campaign committees?
I know the RNC isn’t doing to well right now, they are getting hit hard by revelations that most of the money being donated to them (more than 60%) has been spent on charter aircraft, limosines, expensive meals, wine, sports tickets, etc.
The Democrats aren’t immune to such criticism either, but the Republicans expenses have been higher, and their use of deceptive “coding” of the expenses has raised eyebrows (thousands of dollars spent at a Vermont winery for “office supplies?). They also recorded items as meals at restaurants which closed down months before the supposed expense.
The problem for the Republicans is that such spending causes problems just as they are trying to don the mantle of “fiscal responsibility”. Their grassroots supporters are recieving fundraising letters calling for increased contributions to counter “Obamacare” and to fight “exploding national debt”. But at the same time their grassroots supporters are seeing articles about lavish expenditures. Why would Grandma and Grandpa Jones want to send in $50 to the RNC this month from their Social Security checks when the Republican leadership is spending tens of thousands of dollars at a “spa retreat” in Hawaii? One fine-dining meal at RNC expense could equal their entire food budget for the month!
Of course, this is where the “Tea Party” is killing them. With no loyalty to the Republican brand name, ambitious “Tea Party” candidates are more than willing to engage in public bashing of Republican candidates over their expense reports, to which the Republican candidates respond in turn. By the time it’s over, neither side is going to smell very pretty. The race in Florida between Christ and Rubio, where both sides are exchanging charges of financial abuse, may just be a preview of more excitement to come.
Rossi is definetely running, my inside sources say. First blogger that can scoop that story gets a cookie.
rhp6033, you’d mentally added a decimal place. Webb raised $222K in the first quarter, not $2.22M.
Scott Brown’s $256K probably deserves an asterisk.
I omitted the commas within the numbers because that run-on sentence already had more than enough of them.
Don’t forget you can take a gander at the 10 folks that want to get creamed by Murray in the fall at 6PM tonight @ Peninsula High School (between Gig Harbor and Port Orchard).
http://tinyurl.com/2d74kyh
Well, there’s 9 of the 10 people that want to run against Patty Murray here and a smattering of other folks running for other offices and they’ve half filled a small high school auditorium.
Don Benton: Tenther!
Every stinking one of them was a tenther.
Clint Didier wants to “revisit” the 14th amendment and was really creepy.
There was someone from the Democratic Party there, I hope he had a tape recorder.
Oh boy, the crazy is already leaking out of the 2010 GOP candidates. Nevada GOP Senate Canidate Sue Lowden suggest people should barter with their doctors and pay for medical care with livestock.
The DSCC has a website up: Chickens for Checkups
Wonder what Cynical could get for his goat?
Michael @ 12
Clint Didier wants to “revisit” the 14th Amendment? Really? That would be the amendment that plainly requires the individual states to abide by the Bill of Rights, and so to provide their citizens with little gems like due process of law. The 14th Amendment followed the Civil War, after that little spat between the North and South regarding federal power versus the states. Does Clint Didier want to reinstitute slavery? How many of you wingies out there want to “revisit” the 14th Amendment? How many of you also are Tea Partiers who want to “return” this country to its “constitutional” roots? C’mon, step right up and proclaim yourselves.
@14
Yeah, and then he made some crack about anchor babies that I didn’t quite catch. He was all about hating on the brown people that he seems to employ on his farm.
Kirby Wilber was the moderator and he pointed out at the beginning of things that there was someone from the Democratic party, with a tape recorder, in the audience, (the Dem gave a wave and said hello.) but that didn’t slow Didier down. Don Benton seemed to enjoy watching Didier eliminate himself from the race. Benton seems like a pretty savvy guy, for a tenther.
I didn’t stay very long, it was pretty obvious that Benton doesn’t have much competition. Or at least he shouldn’t, there was so much CrAzY who knows how those people will vote in the primary.
@13
I wonder how many chickens it would take to pay for an ambulance ride and emergency surgery for a ruptured spleen?
Its old, and has too much mileage, he could probably get a prescription for a tube of Anusol for it.
15
Clint Didier for Senator! Go, man, go! Hey, Puddy, you must be behind this guy. Aren’t you, bud?
@15
Well Benton is nuttier than a shithouse rat too, he’s just a bit more savvy about when to let the crazy out.