Republicans have had an advantage in strategically reallocating funds from incumbents who don't need them to challengers who do; that is one reason they won control of the Congress in 1994. If the Democrats do not win back the House in 2006, one reason may be their failure to do the same.
Democratic incumbents who do not face serious challenges have $86 million. While the 30 most generous Democrats have donated about 32% of their receipts to others, the least generous (in terms of contributions to others) have given only 3%. All the Democrats not facing serious challenges reallocating one-third of their receipts would provide Democratic challengers with an additional $15 million.
My question is what netroots action can help the Democrats reallocate their funds? This is my first diary: I've put a table, some examples, and some thoughts about this after the jump.
Data are based on the last (June 30) FEC reports, from
fecinfo (contributions candidates made to themselves are subtracted from totals reported as contributions to others). The 30 Democrats who faced the best-funded challengers (including primary opponents) or represent the most Republican districts are considered separately. Figures in the table are millions of dollars, or percentages. Opponent Pct means the funds raised by the most financially succesful opponent as a percent of the funds raised by the incumbent (including primary challenges).
Group | Receipts | Cash on Hand | Dollars to Others | Transfer Pct | Opponent Pct |
Top 30 | 27 | 19 | 9 | 32 | 6 |
Next 30 | 21 | 20 | 4 | 20 | 6 |
Middle 30 | 18 | 20 | 3 | 17 | 4 |
Next 30 | 19 | 13 | 2 | 10 | 5 |
Bottom 33 | 19 | 14 | .5 | 3 | 6 |
Challenged 30 | 33 | 22 | .9 | 3 | 56 |
Some of the Democrats who have not been using their campaign funds to help win back the majority are Jesse Jackson Jr. (IL-2) $1.3 million on hand, no opponent, and no money contributed to others. Jim McDermott (WA-7) with $345K, and Dennis Kucinich (OH-10) with $110K have also not contributed anything to others. All three are members of the Progressive Caucus. Chris Bowers pointed out that the
Blue Dogs defect from the party on key votes much more often than the
Progressive Caucus. However some Blue Dogs have been more loyal to the party than Progressives when it comes to reallocating campaign funds. I'd especially like to see the Progressives do more.
I'm trying to convince 100 friends to contribute to campaigns at
my actblue page, but they keep telling me they don't even have $5 to spare. How can I convince my friends they should put up some money when Mark Udall has $1 million in the bank, an opponent with less than $8,000, and can only come up with $17,000 to give other Democrats, especially given that there are fabulous campaigns all around him in
Colorado,
Nevada, and amazing long-shot possibilities near him in
NE-3 and
WY-AL along with other key races in the Western Strategy like
CA-11.
Or consider Massachusetts, where the only Democrat with a serious challenge, Barney Frank (MA-4) has been the most generous. Meanwhile, the other 9 members from Mass. have $13.6 million on hand, while their opponents have a total of less than $10,000. (And that's not counting retired Representative Joseph Kennedy II whose campaign account has $1.9 million.) Maybe they are waiting to spend a fortune to run against each other for Senate. Perhaps by placing a spotlight on those funds, the netroots can convince these politicians that helping win back the house will help their careers, and being blamed for hoarding the resources needed to end Republican control will hurt their careers. This could be an amazing resource, perhaps especially appropriate for the
northeast strategy.
That means getting the information out to people who will take action, contacting the members of congress and the traditional media.
One possibility suggested by Kid Oakland is to rely on
local blogs to get the word out, and encourage action.
Another is to try to draw attention to these members of congress by name here, one at a time, or in groups of 5 or 10, emphasizing what we would like to see in the next FEC reports.
Or I could post the whole list here.
Please suggest other possibilities or choose among these.