Republicans Still In Financial Trouble

The Republican National Committee (RNC) has a new chairman (Reince Priebus) but it looks like their financial problems continue to plague them. The former chairman, Michael Steele, had proved to be a failure at both raising and spending party funds, and had left the party at least $21 million in debt after the recent elections. This marked the first time the RNC, which has been very good at fund-raising in the past, entered a new electoral period that deeply in debt.

The party had hoped that removing Steele from his leadership position would spur donations and help them to climb out of debt. So far that isn't happening. The party was able to raise $5.2 million in February, but they spent $5.3 in that month (slightly more than a million of which was spent to pay down the debt). But they still finished the month with the same amount of debt -- $21 million. That's because they found about a million in debt they weren't aware of. They finished February with $2.1 million in the bank.

Meanwhile the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is not only in better financial shape, but continues to outraise the RNC in political donations. The DNC raised $7.1 million in February -- about $1.9 million more than the RNC. They spent $5.7 during the month ($1 million of which was to repay debt). They finished the month with $17.9 million of debt and currently have $10.5 million in the bank.

If the Democrats are going to be able to compete in the 2012 elections they need to keep out-raising the Republicans. That's because many corporate moguls (like the Koch brothers) have shown they are willing to spend big money to help the Republicans. This corporate spending gives the Republicans a big money edge, even though the RNC seems unable to get a handle on its financial problems.