Here we go. Basically 35 days to go until midterm election day. And while I have written repeatedly that in the last six weeks, Messaging is King, but cash is Queen, when I said messaging, I wasn’t just talking about TV, radio, and digital media ads. It goes much deeper than that.
There are actually two separate parts of fundraising in U.S. elections. The first is the fundraising that the individual candidates do for their own campaign. This is the money that the candidates raise to run their own operations, staffing, advertising, blah, blah. This is why incumbents tend to have a built in advantage, they already have a fundraising base and operation in place from previous races.
The second component is national party fundraising, and this is critical. It is the national party’s job to distribute their funding, resources, and ground support to candidates, often first time candidates that are in trouble in potentially competitive districts.
And right now, the Democrats are cleaning the GOP’s clock on both fronts. The Democrats have pretty well ruled fundraising since 2018, when Democratic House challengers went totally with grassroots local fundraising, refusing corporate or politically motivated donations. In 2018 and 2020, they outspent entrenched GOP incumbents by 3-4 to 1. Even the DNC got on the bandwagon in 2020, requiring any presidential candidates to meet a grassroots fundraising threshold to make the debates.
And on the national fundraising front, the Democrats are clobbering the GOP for one simple reason. Donald John Trump. Trump’s insatiable greed has completely overtaken the vast majority of small money, continuing contributor donors. Which is choking the RNC, the RSCC, and the RNCC. And because the handmaidens that Trump keeps saddling the GOP with are so disgusting, that both national as well a state deep pocket donors are putting their checkbooks away, rather than back this pond scum.
Here’s why it’s so critical. The latest poll for the Ohio Senate race shows Democratic congressman Tim Ryan 3 points over Hillbilly JD Vance. And in an interview with Lawrence O’Donnell on The Last Word tonight, Ryan told Lawrence about how, in the last 33 days, volunteers and local activists are going to be out every day canvassing, logging phone bank hours, setting up carpools to get lower income and older voters to the polls, and educating voters on the mail in ballots. And all of that takes money, for gas money and lunch if nothing else. And Ryan has it.
On the national level, it’s the job of the DNC, the DSCC, and the DCCC to shuttle national funds and resources to Democratic candidates with fundraising deficits in competitive districts and states with the same kind of power ground game that Ryan it talking about. And once again, the DNC has the cash to pump up those campaigns.
Nothing nationally, as well as on a state by state basis, the GOP doesn’t have the lucre. Traditionally the GOP incumbents as well as the GOP taps large donation corporate and rich shitpoke donors. But Trump has shut off the lifeblood of grassroots, recurring donors, and both the state as well as the national party are cash strapped.
They’re doing what they can, but it isn’t enough, and it’s not going to the right place! Reckless big pocket donors are throwing money into GOP Super PAC’s in order to prop up struggling candidates with carpet bombing negative ads. For instance, McConnell’s personal Super PAC has funnelled more than $20 million into JD Vance’s campaign for advertising, mainly because the cheap prick won’t use his own billions to fund this dog.
But here’s the problem. The FEC has strict rules on how Super PAC money can be spent. It cannot run ads promoting a particular candidate, they are required to run contrast ads, tearing down another candidate instead. And they are forbidden to either coordinate with individual campaigns on advertising, or to funnel money into the individual campaigns themselves.
But that isn’t what these candidates need, especially with voter sentiment resistant to negative ads. What these candidates need is cold hard cash. They need to ramp up their on-the ground operations in the last 33 days, get the message to the streets face to face. They need to canvas, set up phone banks, ands voter education drives, mailers left in doors, and that takes money. And neither the RNC or the candidates have it.
This is the hidden reef, both in 2022 as well as 2024. Not only is Trump’s toxic ideology and personality killing the GOP, his personal avarice is starving it of the one thing it desperately needs, money. This is one of the reasons I’m so positive about the Democrats chances in November. What’s the old song? Oh yeah, Little things mean a lot. Don’t touch that dial.
I feel inspired to quote Danny Elfman’s rocking theme to the film, Wanted:
“Have you heard the news?/Bad things come in twos/But I never knew/About the little things. Every single day,/Thing get in my way/Someone has to pay/For the little things.”
Well far be it from me to say one dam thing good about ole Donnie. But his comical, fun loving grifting of the rubes in the republicans party. But you got to hand it to him. He maybe will one handily tank the republicans election prospects. I do think it’s a grand thing to observe.