Well, I knew that backlash against the White House was certain to hurt Republican turnout in 2008. I thought that our Dems would have a perfect opportunity to go on the offensive. I even considered the possibility that we could compete seriously with the GOP in terms of financial contributions. But I never expected to see this from the Wall Street Journal:
Democrats Lead By $100 Million In Money Race
WASHINGTON -- With more than a year to go before the 2008 elections, Democratic candidates have raised $100 million more in campaign contributions than Republicans, putting them on track to win the money race for the White House and Congress for the first time since the government began detailed accounting of campaign fund raising three decades ago.
Holy $, batman! A one hundred million dollar lead! Give me a minute while I revel in this number and do a little touchdown dance in my head.
Wait for it...
Wait for it...
Wait for it...
Yearrrggghhhhhhh!
OK, back to reality. Well, aside from being a reason for rejoicing and merriment on an otherwise slow news day, this report indicates that we now have an advantage in a category that we have come in second in for over thirty years running.
Beating Republicans by a tenth of a billion dollars seems to indicate that we stand a chance of shrinking the GOP in 2008 to the point where it is small enough to drown in the bathtub. (Sorry, no more Grover Norquist references, I promise!) Allow me to explain why.
Democrats, for as long as such statistics have been kept, have led Republicans in party identification. In fact, according to a 2006 Harris Poll, Democrats enjoy a 9 point lead over Republican's in party ID. However, a quarter of voters consider themselves to be independent of either party, more than enough to swing a national election one way or the other.
So what does party ID have to do with money, you ask? Everything! Those 24% of voters who are independents are the most coveted citizens in the national. Convince them to vote for your candidates and your party now has control over Congress and the White House. This large lead in fundraising allows us more access and airtime to: a) Solidify their discontent with Bush and the GOP and b) convince them that Democrats are the solution to the nation's problems.
So whether you're an behind Edwards, Obama, or Clinton (or even Kucinich!), keep the generosity coming and let's take back the White House.
Don't forget to donate to your favorite candidate at Act Blue!
To finish it off, here are some graphs from the WSJ article with interesting statistics for the current election cycle: