Chris Van Hollen leads the good guys among safe Dem members ponying up for the larger cause.
Dramatically increasing his own personal investment in the November midterms, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen this week will send another $800,000 in checks to the DCCC and individual candidates from his personal campaign account, a source close to Van Hollen told Roll Call.
The Maryland Democrat, who also serves as Assistant to the Speaker, will send a $700,000 check to the DCCC and another $100,000 to individual candidates. Van Hollen now has given a total of $1.6 million to the DCCC from his own account -- the most of any Democrat -- more than tripling his $450,000 dues.
Van Hollen has topped House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (Md.) by $50,000, according to the latest DCCC dues sheet dated Tuesday, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Majority Whip James Clyburn (S.C.) by $100,000.
No other Democrat outside the top three leaders has given more than $575,000, the amount given by Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (Calif.).
The worst Democrat in the world (or at least the most scrooge-like) remains Evan Bayh:
Bayh’s latest Federal Election Commission report shows that he still has $10.3 million in his campaign account – a staggering amount for a lame duck senator — but he has yet to transfer any of that money to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Bayh has by far the most cash-on-hand of any retiring senator who is not seeking elective office this cycle, intensifying expectations that he is saving the cash for a future statewide or national run.