Is it possible that Obama — and to a lesser extent Clinton — are sucking up the money available for other Democratic candidates? That’s one explanation for this surprising deficit:
The Republican National Committee (RNC) raised more than twice as much money as the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in January. It was the strongest single-month fundraising performance so far in the 2007-08 election cycle by the RNC, which saw the gaping financial advantage it had long held over the DNC diminish sharply last year after the Democrats’ takeover of Congress in the 2006 elections. The RNC reported raising $11.8 million in January, a figure that dwarfed the $5.8 million in receipts for the DNC – even though the latter total also was a one-month high for the Democratic committee in the current election cycle. These numbers were contained in updated campaign finance reports filed by the committees Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission… Nonetheless, the RNC began February with $21.8 million left to spend and is debt-free. That figure assures Republicans that the committee will be able to make a maximum investment in its highest-priority role, helping promote the campaign of its presidential nominee – a title that Arizona Sen. John McCain now is strongly favored to win. The cash reserve that the RNC brought into this month exceeded the $19.2 million limit that a national party committee is permitted to spend on “coordinated expenditures” to assist its presidential candidate.
Obama and Clinton are spending as much as they can raise, while McCain and the RNC are banking their cash. And the RNC, in particular, has already saved all it can to spend on McCain’s behalf. That means additional dollars raised will go to support Congressional candidates.
