I took Hillary and some other Senate Dems to task for
not contributing their weight to the DSCC.
Hillary may be cheap by giving just $1 million out of a $22 million warchest to the effort to win the Senate. Feingold's $10K was pitiful. But of the Senate's presidential aspirants, none is as cheap and miserly as Evan Bayh,
Amount given to the DSCC: $0
Cash on Hand: $10,363,520
His next election is not until 2010.
Update: Hmmm, and what about John Kerry? He gave $1 million to the DSCC from the $16 million he had left over after the last election, and I don't think he's given anything since. Right now he has about 180K in his Senate account. I don't know what happened to the rest of that $16 million. I don't know if he has a separate leadership PAC or presidential committee to hold that cash.
Update II: Okay, to clarify the Kerry stuff -- his money is in his leadership PAC, which can't transfer money to the DSCC. And most of the money he raises these days clearly goes into that PAC.
Also, I should note that all of these candidates are using their PACs to help out races this cycle. I'm sure you guys have seen Feingold and Warner advertise their efforts here and elsewhere. This isn't just about "helping" other candidates, but about providing the cold, hard cash to finish out the cycle strong. There's a loophole that allows senators to transfer as much money from their Senate committees as they want to the DSCC. If we have to sacrifice and contribute to campaigns from our household budgets, there's no reason that the Senators who would most benefit from being in the majority do so from their Senate budgets as well.
Feinstein, Kennedy, Wyden, and Durbin have stepped up in a big way. Others have made significant contributions as well, like the non-Democrat Jeffords.