Democrats' spending gives edge to GOP

updated 10:29 a.m. ET Sept. 19, 2006

WASHINGTON - The national Democratic Party has spent millions on raising money, consultants and building state parties, entering the weeks before Election Day with only about one-fifth as much as the Republicans for races that could decide control of Congress.

The Republican National Committee is prepared to spend $60 million over the next seven weeks on advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts to protect the GOP's narrow majorities in the House and Senate.

The Democratic National Committee plans to use about $12 million, all devoted to getting voters to the polls. Even in that effort, though, it has set aside only an average of $60,000 in each of the 40 most competitive congressional races in the country.

Infrastructure expenses
Dean has delivered more resources toward building the party at the state level than any other DNC chairman. In doing so, the DNC as of July 31 had transferred nearly $17 million to state and local party committees across the country, with significantly more going to states with competitive races, according to party officials.

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Between Jan. 1, 2005 and July 31 of this year, the party spent about $90.2 million, about a third of that on fundraising expenses, ranging from more than $8 million in direct mail to $10,500 for an event for donors at the five-star Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.

The DNC has spent more than $8 million updating national lists of Democratic voters, the party says. About $2.9 million has gone toward general consulting and services, and nearly $1 million to legal consulting, according to data compiled by Political Money Line, a database for political spending. The political consulting figure includes money spent on summer interns, party officials said.

Political disadvantage, financial edge
Both parties will rely heavily on their congressional campaign committees for advertising and voter outreach. But while the GOP is operating at a political disadvantage this election, its financial edge could be crucial for Republicans to retain political power.

Republican Party Chairman Ken Mehlman has developed a highly touted voter outreach operation that party operatives say he will blend with targeted television advertising. It is an operation that helped with a Republican victory in a special congressional election in California and with securing Sen. Lincoln Chafee's Republican primary win in Rhode Island.

"Republicans have unlimited resources," said Steve Rosenthal, a Democratic strategist and expert on voter mobilization. He predicted Republicans will "bloody the waters enough with negative ads and come in below that with a campaign that is mailings, phone calls, personal contact with voters they know they need to get out to win."

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To be sure, Republicans have long been able to raise more money than Democrats. Between Jan. 1, 2005, and July 31 of this year, the RNC raised $176.2 million. At the end of that period, it had $43.6 million in the bank. The DNC raised $95.5 million during that period and had $11.3 million in the bank at the end of July.

Dean, a prolific fundraiser, has been successful at bringing in more money by Democratic standards. But his decision to spend more on states has angered Washington-based party operatives who want to place the party's focus on winning control of Congress and set the stage to regain the White House in 2008.

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