McCain lagging in Senate donations
Only a third of John McCain’s fellow senators have contributed to his campaign and that’s not making his job any easier as he begins mounting a serious offense against the ultimate winner of the Democratic nomination, each of whom has raised more money than any other presidential primary candidate in history.
The March 31 filing at the F.E.C. revealed only 17 senators – all Republicans except for Sen. Joe Liebermann, Independent Democrat from Connecticut – had written checks to McCain’s presidential campaign.
According to F.E.C. records, most of those senators wrote $5000 checks, the maximum permitted for a leadership political action committee [PAC].
It’s not as if presumptive Republican presidential nominee couldn’t use the money – or the support – as the Democrats near the end of their fierce race for their party’s nomination.
Sens. Clinton and Obama each raised more than $100 million by the March F.E.C. reporting date, while McCain only raised $81 million. Obama and Clinton’s Internet and small dollar contributions have been staggering and they’ve each captured the bigger donors of their party, too.
In the midst of all this less-than-stellar news for a Republican loyalist, McCain is being outgunned by both Democratic rivals during this campaign season. However, that trend may be ending as more of McCain’s 48 GOP lawmakers start sending their PAC money to the party’s standard barer.
An article in Roll Call quotes sources “close to McCain” stating that McCain is making collecting funds from his fellow Republicans a priority and setting a goal of winning them all over and that the campaign has been promised contributions, even though not all have written checks.
One source close to McCain told Roll Call, “We’ve seen a lot of goodwill.”
A big-ticket fundraising event is planned for May 15 in Washington DC, where the McCain camp is expecting a large GOP contingent of House and Senate members to crack open their rich PAC vaults for the presidential candidate.
“I think you’ll find Republican officeholders across the country, and particularly in the Congress, rallying to support him and help him win the election,” said Sen. Cochran (R-Miss.), a veteran appropriator who told the Boston Globe in January that the thought of a McCain presidency “sends a cold chill down my spine.”
The rest of the GOP lawmakers are expecting to pony-up for McCain when he holds fundraisers in their state though financing the presidential candidate goes far beyond John McCain’s fortunes in November.
With 23 Republican Senate seats to defend this fall compared to only 12 Democratic seats, strengthening their party state tickets with a competitively funded presidential candidate is a practical necessity.
Unfortunately for the GOP, the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee only has $17.3 million on hand while the Democratic equivalent – the DSCC – has stockpiled $27.8 million. House Republicans with only $7.2 million in the bank while the Democrats have amassed $44.3 million.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) told Roll Call, “There’s been overwhelming support for John from Congress” and that contributions from senators are a critical indicator of McCain’s base of support.
While McCain waits for his Congressional PAC money to come dribbling in, he’s spending precious time doing what the Democratic contenders have already figured out.
In a cycle that doesn’t bode well for a Republican – an unpopular war still brewing, rising oil prices, and an economic recession digging in its heels – Rasmussen Reports latest daily tracking poll gives Democrats a 59.8 percent chance of winning in November.
According to the daily Rasmussen tracking poll for Monday, Hillary Clinton polled a four-point advantage over John McCain, 47 percent to 43 percent and McCain leads Barack Obama by the same margin, 47 percent to 43 percent; with a margin of error of +/-3 points. Basically, they’re all in a statistical dead-heat.
Beyond their record fundraising totals, both Sens. Clinton and Obama have been forced to register new voters and develop effective ground games in Purple states that John McCain and the Republicans need if they hope to win the White House or retain their seats in the Congress.
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