Republicans are closing the soft-money gap with Democrats, according to new data from federal disclosure documents, with pro-GOP organizations getting nearly half of the funds raised by national-level political organizations called 527s.
It is still, however, quite early in the election cycle. Now that the possibility the controversial 527s will be regulated is remote, donors waiting on the sidelines may step in and tip the balance back again.
New disclosure information compiled by PoliticalMoneyLine shows key national 527s — named for the section of the tax code they come under — have raised $118 million in the last 18 months. They gave $61.2 million of that to organizations favoring Democrats and $56.4 million to groups that lean Republican.
That money is particularly valuable because it comes with few strings attached. Though 527s are not allowed to coordinate with or donate directly to candidates for federal office, their “soft money” can buy almost anything else, including attack ads and research on opponents.
They can also generally contribute directly to state and local candidates, and their fundraising power is virtually unlimited. There are no limits on the size of donations to a 527 or who can contribute.
During the 2004 elections, pro-Democrat groups seized on 527s, using them to raise more than $279 million, 60 percent more than Republican groups, according to PoliticalMoneyLine — a feat that stunned GOP leaders.
“I think that 527s played a huge role in the presidential election, for one, because they were so new, and it was an easy way to get the soft money into the elections,” said Morgan Felchner, editor of Campaign and Elections Magazine.
But the balance of fundraising is shifting.
“It is pretty even in spending now. They [Republicans] are catching up,” said Tony Raymond, co-founder of PoliticalMoneyLine, which compiled the contribution data from 527 disclosure documents filed with the IRS.
It is still very early for final trends to emerge, however, and it is possible the balance will shift again before this election year is over. The total raised by all the 527s for this election cycle — some $207 million — is still less than one-third of the $623.2 million spent by 527s for the 2004 elections. In part, that is because 2004 was a presidential election year, Felchner said. Donors have also been holding back until proposals to regulate 527s were settled, agreed Felchner and Raymond.
“They didn’t want to raise all that money and then not be able to use it for the purpose they had expected,” Felchner told The Examiner.
But now it is far too late to get any new rules in place.
They’ve got the green light, said Raymond. “There aren’t going to be any rules to prohibit them.”
