Friday, February 22, 2013

Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest: DSCC just crushes NRSC in January fundraising

Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest banner Want the scoop on hot races around the country? Get the digest emailed to you each weekday morning. Sign up here. Leading Off:

' Fundraising: We're bringing back our monthly roundup of fundraising reports from the big six party committees, which file with the FEC on the 20th of each month. Overall, the Democrats had a strong January:

Committee Jan. Receipts Jan. Spent Cash-on-Hand CoH Change Debt
DCCC $6,080,512 $3,007,002 $4,561,731 $3,073,510 $12,556,407
NRCC $4,447,693 $3,190,681 $2,791,623 $1,257,012 $11,000,000
DSCC $4,200,000 $3,000,000 $1,190,041 $15,700,000
NRSC $1,500,000 $1,600,000 $3,300,000 ($80,789) $10,000,000
DNC $4,371,825 $3,994,747 $4,669,216 $377,078 $20,776,025
RNC $6,899,146 $4,586,341 $7,074,817 $2,312,805 $0
Total Dem $14,652,337 $7,001,749 $12,230,948 $4,640,629 $49,032,432
Total GOP $12,846,839 $9,377,023 $13,166,440 $3,489,028 $21,000,000

If you're new to these charts, "CoH Change" refers to how much each committee's cash stockpile moved upward or downward from the previous month. One thing you might also wonder is why there are some gaps and very round numbers As you may know, the Senate is still stuck in the 19th Century and refuses to require that fundraising reports'whether for individual senators or party committees like the DSCC and NRSC'be filed electronically. Instead, they're delivered on paper to the FEC, which must then scan them before posting them online, which typically takes a couple of weeks. It's insane, and it's absolutely antithetical to any notions of democratic transparency, which means it's just another reason why the Senate is the worst institution in America.

(Oh yeah, there is one way to see fundraising totals for both of these committees in something resembling a timely fashion: If you're near the Capitol, you can visit the Senate Clerk's office and take a glance at the cover page of the monthly reports. Really convenient.)

So because of this, unless we want to wait, we have to rely on data voluntarily released by the two committees, and as you can see, it's often incomplete. The DSCC had a pretty good month and so they've graced us with a some tidbits that they share with Beltway publications like Roll Call and Politico, but they seem to have left out their spending totals. The NRSC, meanwhile, waited until late in the day on Thursday to reveal its utterly embarrassing haul, but we won't let them hide.

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