All six of the big Washington-based political committees were active in August raising funds for the 2010 midterms, with Republicans benefitting from an excess of passion tied to the health care protests.
For starters, the Republican National Committee bested its counterpart Democratic National Committee, though both did fairly well for whyat is usually a slow month. Still, RNC’s $7.8M take was $1M better than the $6.8M the DNC pulled in. RNC also has $21M in the bank and no debt, while the DNC is sitting on $15M and has a credit card bill of over $5M.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee edged its rival Republicans National Congressional Committee by the barest of margins — $3.3M to $3.1M. According to CQ Politics, the Dems benefitted from contributions from the House rank and file, where they of course hold a significant edge in membership, while the GOP took in more small donations from individuals. The Dems have a big lead in terms of money in the bank — $10.7M to $4.2M.
The Republican National Senatorial Committee easily won August against its counterpart Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, $3.1M to $2.2M, but trails in cash on hand, $5.1M to $6.9M.
RBR-TVBR observation: The Republicans are going to need all the help they can get from the political action committees, because the Dems are way ahead at the individual candidate level, which is in large part due to the fact that they have more incumbents.
As for broadcasters, this is the shock cash that will be held in reserve for battleground campaigns. This money will be released when a party thinks it has a chance to wrestle a seat away from an incumbent; and the endangered incumbent may well get an infusion of cash for defensive purposes.
In terms of getting strong income from the political category, location is everything. Unfortunately, you’re either located in the right spot or you aren’t. We have yet to see a station apply for a city of license change in order to move into a more purple congressional district.
