The NYT is forced to run a story it absolutely cannot like to admit is true.
The Democratic National Committee ended 2007 nearly flat broke, with cash of $2.9 million and debts of $2.2 million. Since then it has raised some money, paid down debt and managed to put $3.7 million in its piggy bank. This compares, however, with $25 million that the Republican National Committee has in cash on hand, after having raised $97 million since the beginning of 2007.
This comes on the heels of something else encouraging … Republican Congressman John Shadegg of Arizona reconsidered his decision to retire from the House and will seek re-election this fall.
That means only 28 other Republican House members are calling it quits! Woo-hoo!
At least 28 House Republicans have announced they won’t seek re-election this year, against just five Democrats stepping down in November.
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Only five House Democrats announced they’ll step down in November — and as the prospects dwindle for a Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential candidacy that would produce high Republican turnout — the advantage appears greater.
In addition, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the fundraising and recruiting arm of House Democrats, holds a 7-to-1 fundraising advantage over its Republican counterpart and expects to increase the Democrats’ majority from the current 231-198 edge.
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The publication Congressional Quarterly, which tracks all 435 congressional district races, lists only eight of the 28 open seats as having no clear favorite. Eleven of the races it considers “safe Republican,” while it lists three as “Republican favored.” The publication classifies six of the races as potentially competitive but that they “lean Republican.”
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The 28 House Republicans’ retirements is the most since 1996, when the same number of Democrats stepped down after losing control of the chamber two years earlier to the Republicans.
Several GOP retirements were a result of House members stepping down to assume higher offices. Former Louisiana Rep. Bobby Jindal resigned last month after he was elected to be his state’s governor, and former Mississippi Rep. Roger Wicker was appointed to the Senate in December to succeed Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican who retired the same month.
Republicans’ Senate prospects are pretty bleak too. “Senate Democrats Hope for a Majority Not Seen in 30 Years: 60 Seats”:
As far-fetched as that might seem — Democrats now control the Senate by a razor-thin 51 to 49, thanks only to two independents who vote with them — some Democrats have started thinking aloud that such a scenario is within reach.
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Numbers help tell the story. Republicans have 23 seats to defend, including five left vacant by retiring incumbents, while the Democrats have just 12, with a competitive race expected only in Louisiana. Even there, the incumbent, Mary L. Landrieu, is still a heavy favorite.
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Democrats are dominating the money race as well. Campaign finance data released in late February showed the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee with more than $30 million, compared with about $13 million for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
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So far, no Democratic incumbents are so vulnerable that their re-election campaigns are rated as clearly up for grabs.
The nightmare is pretty vivid. Obama in the White House. Harry Reid with a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Pelosi with a heavily Democratic House.
I can almost taste the embarrassing, genocidal surrender, crippling taxes, and rotten SCOTUS appointments now.
Awesome.
[...] of the House. Coleman said there are certain lessons the GOP could learn as it prepares for a tough election year, and specifically touched on the issue of spending and earmarks. While noting that “all [...]