Fundraising

We noted some time ago that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) under Sen. Chuck Schumer outraised its Republican counterpart, a nearly unprecedented event given GOP control of both the Senate and the White House. In tomorrow's paper, The Hill's Alexander Bolton explains where a portion of the Dems' advantage came from.

Through the first eight months of this year, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) has raised $27.4 million — $2.4 million more than what the Senate Republicans collected over the same period.

[...]

Democratic senators dipping into their personal campaign funds have provided the difference.

They have given $2.6 million to the DSCC during the first half of 2005, according to campaign-committee officials. GOP lawmakers gave about $500,000, according to a review of fundraising records posted by PoliticalMoneyLine, a research organization.

[...]

For example, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has given $500,000 from his campaign account. Democratic Sens. Byron Dorgan (N.D.), Chris Dodd (Conn.), Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Carl Levin (Mich.) have each given $100,000. Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.) has contributed $375,000, and Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.) has deposited $235,000.

Oregon's own Wyden, who raised a ton of money in the 2004 cycle despite not facing a serious challenge, gave close to 15% of all of the money donated by Senators. To give a comparison, the largest GOP donor was Mel Martinez, who gave his party's committee $89,000, or less than a quarter of what Wyden gave. If Schumer can keep up the heavy fundraising, including from members like Wyden (who still has more than $1.5 million on hand without another race for 5 years), perhaps 2006 won't be such a bad year for Democrats after all.

Outlook

In this week's "Off to the Races" column for National Journal (a free subscription to view the rest that can be accessed by clicking here), Charlie Cook takes a gander at the state of the campaign for the Senate, and writes the following:

In the Senate, though, Democrats need a net gain of six seats to win the majority, so logically they need to put six GOP seats in play.

They have accomplished that; in fact, seven Republican-held seats are now in play. They are the seats held by Republican Sens. Jon Kyl of Arizona, Jim Talent of Missouri, Conrad Burns of Montana, Mike DeWine of Ohio, Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee.

Democrats have credible candidates in all but one of those states, Ohio.

It appears likely that their nominee will be Paul Hackett, the lawyer and Iraq War veteran who came close to picking off a special election in Ohio's 2nd congressional district against now-Rep. Jean Schmidt.

If GOP Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi retires, as many expect he will, that would set up yet another competitive Republican-held Senate seat, bringing the total to eight.

Rep. Charles (Chip) Pickering would likely carry the GOP banner, with either former state Attorney General Mike Moore or Rep. Gene Taylor running for the Democratic nod.

Harry Reid's coup in keeping Schumer in the Senate can not be understated. As chair of the DSCC, Schumer has proved to be an able recruiter, as Cook notes, and a prolific fundraiser. If the Democrats retake the Senate in 2006 -- which does not yet appear at all likely, but is nevertheless possible -- look for Schumer to ascend to a position of real power within the party, either within the Senate or on a larger stage.