GOP Fundraising Problems Could Hamper Gains This Fall

3:40 am EST August 23rd, 2010 | Politics, Republicans | 3 Comments

Michael Steele

The Wall Street Journal reports on Michael Steele’s latest effort on the behalf of the Democratic party.

Still, the RNC retains a crucial role in election campaigns, managing data on voters and organizing them to go to the polls. Some Republican strategists say its fund-raising gap could hurt the party’s chances in November.

‘We’ve got a tremendous opportunity to win some seats this fall and many of those seats are going to be short-changed on the get-out-the-vote effort,’ said Ed Rollins, a Republican strategist, calling the RNC’s fund-raising performance ‘disastrous.’

The RNC says it has spent heavily on races that have helped revive the party’s fortunes after election routs in 2006 and 2008. It says it isn’t disappointed with its fund raising, which it expects to pick up as the election nears. ‘We’re confident that we’re going to continue to have the resources to put on the ground in key races,’ Doug Heye, an RNC spokesman, said Sunday.

The RNC raised some $5.5 million in July, compared with $11.6 million raised by the Democratic National Committee, according to filings made to the Federal Election Commission on Friday. The DNC had $10.9 million in the bank at the end of July, according to the filings.

About $900,000 of the RNC total came from an insurance settlement, rather than from donations.