Dem House Campaign Unit Gained While GOP's Drained in February

[Ron Burgundy]

CQPolitics.com - The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), which helps fund the campaigns of Democrats who are running for the U.S. House, reported raising $6.2 million in February. That compared to $4.6 million raised by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the partisan counterpart to the DCCC, which also filed a campaign report Thursday with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

The Democratic committee has held a steady fundraising lead since its party's 30-seat gain boosted it into its current House majority. And the February figures show that the imbalance between the two parties, in terms of money that each House campaign committee had left to spend on races across the nation at the end of last month, grew to its widest yet. The DCCC began March with $38 million left to spend and had $763,000 in debts, compared to $5.1 million for the NRCC, which reported $1.9 million in debts.

The NRCC expected to have had a bit more at the end. But the House Republican organization revised its cash-on-hand total downward by about $740,000, following the results of a preliminary investigation that alleged financial mismanagement by former NRCC treasurer Christopher Ward.

Given their money disadvantage, Republican officials also may wish they had taken back some of the $1.1 million they invested in February on the campaign for March 8 special election in Illinois' 14th District. Democrat Bill Foster went on to win that contest by 52.5 percent to 47.5 percent over Republican Jim Oberweis -- an outcome widely described as a setback and even an embarrassment to the GOP, as the Republican-leaning district had long been held by Republican J. Dennis Hastert, the former House Speaker, who resigned from Congress last November.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC)

- Total receipts, February 2008: $6.2 million

- Total receipts, year to date: $77.4 million

- Total disbursements, February 2008: $3.7 million

- Total disbursements, year to date: $40.2 million

- Cash-on-hand, Feb. 29: $38 million

- Debts, Feb. 29: $763,000 million

Notable contributions from individual donors

- Eli Broad, philanthropist: $10,000

- William H. Gray III, chairman of Amani Group and a former House member from Pennsylvania (1978-91) who served as majority whip: $1,000

- Vincent Mai, chairman and chief executive officer of AEA Investors, Inc.: $28,500

- Nion McEvoy, chairman and chief executive officer of Chronicle Books: $28,500

- Dean Ornish, president of Preventive Medicine Research Institute: $28,500

- Tony Podesta, chairman of Podesta Group: $12,500

- Howard Stringer, chairman and chief executive officer of Sony Corporation: $10,000

- Marlo Thomas, actress: $28,500

- Joe Uva, chief executive officer of Univision Communications Inc.: $5,000

Notable contributions from campaign committees of House Democrats

- Carolyn B. Maloney of New York: $107,125

- Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California: $100,000

- Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland: $85,000

- Rush D. Holt of New Jersey: $70,423

- John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania: $61,278

- Anna G. Eshoo of California: $50,000

- Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida: $50,000

- Lloyd Doggett of Texas: $50,000

- Democratic Caucus chairman Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, a former DCCC chairman: $50,000

- Alcee L. Hastings of Florida: $40,000

- John M. Spratt Jr. of South Carolina: $34,188

- Robert E. "Bud" Cramer of Alabama: $28,575*

- Timothy H. Bishop of New York: $25,000

- Sam Farr of California: $25,000

- Gene Green of Texas: $25,000

- John B. Larson of Connecticut: $25,000

- George Miller of California: $20,000

* Cramer is not seeking re-election this year, though he announced his retirement March 13, after he made this donation to the DCCC.

National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC)

- Total receipts, February 2008: $4.6 million

- Total receipts, year to date: $57.9 million

- Total disbursements, February 2008: $5.1 million

- Total disbursements, year to date: $53.4 million

- Cash-on-hand, Feb. 29: $5.1 million

- Debts, Feb. 29: $1.9 million

Notable contributions from individual donors

- Christopher Giblin, senior vice president at Ogilvy Government Relations and a former chief of staff to Texas Rep. John Carter: $1,500

- Peter Neupert, a corporate vice president at Microsoft Corp.: $28,500

- Robert J. Schellhas, lobbyist at Citigroup: $2,500

- Dean A. Spanos, president and chief executive officer of the San Diego Chargers professional football team: $28,500

- Robert J. Ulrich, chief executive officer of Target: $5,000

- Charles J. Wyly, investor: $28,500

- Walter J. Zable, chief executive officer of Cubic Corporation: $28,500

Notable contributions from campaign committees of House Republicans

- Deborah Pryce of Ohio: $100,000*

- Harold Rogers of Kentucky: $50,000

- Dave Camp of Michigan: $50,000

- James T. Walsh of New York: $50,000*

- Dave Weldon of Florida: $30,000*

- Doc Hastings of Washington: $25,000

- Jim Jordan of Ohio: $20,000

- Jo Bonner of Alabama: $20,000

* Pryce, Walsh and Weldon are not seeking re-election this year. All made their retirement plans known before making these donations to the NRCC.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20080324/pl_cq_politics/politics2691761 [link]