GOP fundraising woes
September 10th 2007 10:02
There was an interesting article by Bob Novak in the Washington Post the other day. It briefly discussed the troubles the GOP is having in fundraising this year. From the article:
As per Novak's example, the illegal immigration issue has really hurt the GOP among the party's conservative base. It has all but sunk John McCain's campaign. Bush and the GOP have marched out one betrayal after another over the last few years. There was the Dubai ports deal, wasteful government spending, the nomination of Harriet Myers to the Supreme Court (later withdrawn), a poorly managed war in Iraq, and more corruption than you can shake a stick at. For many conservatives, Bush's position on amnesty for illegals was indeed the last straw. Granted, it was primarily a handful of GOP Senators who stopped the amnesty bill, but the willingness of many of them to back it was astonishing to conservatives. As a result, it seems that a large number of individual donors are holding on to their hard-earned money.
The Democrats don't seem to be having the same trouble. Normally, the GOP dominates in fundraising. Not this time. I'm sure that the GOP is still getting donations from many corporate donors. However, corporations like to hedge their bets and they like to back potential winners. As a result, I'm sure the Democrats are getting more than their fair share of corporate dollars this time around.
An unwillingness of the GOP base to give money to the party this time is troublesome on multiple levels. The GOP has less money to spend and the timing could not be worse. In the Senate, the Republican Party has almost twice as many seats to defend as the Democrats. They really need to have a lot more money than the Democrats to protect those seats and go after Democratic seats. Having less money will make it difficult for the GOP to hold their numbers in the Senate. If they lose just a few, they will give the Democrats a filibuster-proof majority. If they lose most of them, they will give the Dems a veto-proof majority. Neither of those scenarios is remotely palatable for conservatives and the GOP.
Also, those former GOP donors may sit out the election in November or they may cross over and vote for Democrats. They are angry and you never know what will happen until election day gets here. The GOP's saving grace could be the relatively comparable unpopularity of the Democrats who are in charge now. Still, I would hate to have to depend on that next November.
So what will happen? We won't know until next year. Right now, though, it does not look good for the GOP. And with no real prospects for improving their standing between now and election day, I don't see things getting any better for them.
During the summer, a female acquaintance of mine in her 70s who had been a faithful Republican during her long life received a GOP telephone solicitation as a previous contributor to the party. Not this time. She informed the fundraiser that President Bush's position on immigration was the last straw. She would not give the Republicans another dime.
Such a rebuff, commonplace for Republican fundraisers today, puts a human face on cold Federal Election Commission statistics showing a commanding Democratic lead in raising money for the 2008 elections. This unusual disparity is at once a symptom and a contributing cause of the melancholy suffusing the Grand Old Party.
Such a rebuff, commonplace for Republican fundraisers today, puts a human face on cold Federal Election Commission statistics showing a commanding Democratic lead in raising money for the 2008 elections. This unusual disparity is at once a symptom and a contributing cause of the melancholy suffusing the Grand Old Party.
As per Novak's example, the illegal immigration issue has really hurt the GOP among the party's conservative base. It has all but sunk John McCain's campaign. Bush and the GOP have marched out one betrayal after another over the last few years. There was the Dubai ports deal, wasteful government spending, the nomination of Harriet Myers to the Supreme Court (later withdrawn), a poorly managed war in Iraq, and more corruption than you can shake a stick at. For many conservatives, Bush's position on amnesty for illegals was indeed the last straw. Granted, it was primarily a handful of GOP Senators who stopped the amnesty bill, but the willingness of many of them to back it was astonishing to conservatives. As a result, it seems that a large number of individual donors are holding on to their hard-earned money.
The Democrats don't seem to be having the same trouble. Normally, the GOP dominates in fundraising. Not this time. I'm sure that the GOP is still getting donations from many corporate donors. However, corporations like to hedge their bets and they like to back potential winners. As a result, I'm sure the Democrats are getting more than their fair share of corporate dollars this time around.
An unwillingness of the GOP base to give money to the party this time is troublesome on multiple levels. The GOP has less money to spend and the timing could not be worse. In the Senate, the Republican Party has almost twice as many seats to defend as the Democrats. They really need to have a lot more money than the Democrats to protect those seats and go after Democratic seats. Having less money will make it difficult for the GOP to hold their numbers in the Senate. If they lose just a few, they will give the Democrats a filibuster-proof majority. If they lose most of them, they will give the Dems a veto-proof majority. Neither of those scenarios is remotely palatable for conservatives and the GOP.
Also, those former GOP donors may sit out the election in November or they may cross over and vote for Democrats. They are angry and you never know what will happen until election day gets here. The GOP's saving grace could be the relatively comparable unpopularity of the Democrats who are in charge now. Still, I would hate to have to depend on that next November.
So what will happen? We won't know until next year. Right now, though, it does not look good for the GOP. And with no real prospects for improving their standing between now and election day, I don't see things getting any better for them.
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