ShareThisBy EDWARD EPSTEIN
Friday, November 03, 2006
Even more than fighting a contest of ideas with Republicans, Rep. Nancy Pelosi is waging a multimillion-dollar fundraising battle intended to produce a Democratic House majority in the Nov. 7 midterm elections.
As the minority leader, Pelosi is the chief fundraiser for the party's national campaign effort, a job that has taken on increased importance in a year when the cost of races in all 435 House districts already has exceeded $700 million. Along with success at the polls, her job has involved making sure that Democrats in close contests have enough money to compete with Republicans who traditionally have raised more campaign money.
Pelosi's staff estimates that her peripatetic travels and phone calls on behalf of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, individual candidates and her personal political action committee, "PAC to the Future," have generated about $50 million this campaign season.
The campaign cash helps bind members of the Democratic caucus to her, ensuring that they'll vote in the new Congress to elect her the speaker _ a first for a woman _ if Democrats pick up the 15 net seats they need to take back the majority in the House they lost in 1994. Of course, if Democrats fall short on Nov. 7, especially after a campaign in which the party's expectations soared so high, all bets will be off on Pelosi continuing as leader.
"It has become an expectation of leadership in Congress that they will play a major role in raising funds for the candidates. And that is particularly important this cycle as control of the House is at stake," said Anthony Corrado, a campaign finance expert at Colby College in Maine.
"Democrats have been very successful this cycle," he added, an assertion borne out by figures filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Through September, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had raised $86.2 million for this election cycle, compared with $123.9 million for the National Republican Congressional Committee, the GOP's House campaign arm.
That leaves Republicans with a sizable advantage, in addition to the money individual candidates raise for their own campaigns, but it means the Democrats have enough money to fight in the roughly two-dozen competitive races.
The GOP's edge was largely gone by the end of September. The Democrats reported $36 million on hand, compared with $39 million for the Republican committee.
"It's emblematic of the success of Pelosi and of Rahm Emanuel (the Chicago congressman who heads the Democratic committee) and of their management of campaign operations that they have held down expenses to put funds into the final weeks," Corrado said.
In addition to the money she raises for others, Pelosi uses her campaign funds to help House candidates. In all, she has given some $659,000 from her personal campaign committee and PAC to the Future to about 80 Democratic incumbents and House challengers seeking to unseat Republicans. Those donations are limited to $4,000 from her personal committee and $10,000 from her political action committee.
She also contributed $617,951 from those same sources to the Democratic campaign committee, and she gave $3,750 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and a few individual Senate candidates.
In all, Pelosi has so far raised $1.5 million for her own campaign and $592,000 for her leadership PAC.
Those figures don't account for the millions she has helped generate for the party by headlining fundraisers, making direct requests of donors and other activities, her staff said.
Her top recipients are 19 candidates in some of the most competitive races where Democrats hope to make the gains to bring them a majority. These include candidates in districts in Indiana, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.
Pelosi's fundraising abilities, which she has honed in three decades as Democratic Party activist in California and as a House member, are playing a major role in the success the party anticipates this year, along with the failings of President Bush and the Republican Congress, said John Burton, the former state Senate president pro tem and a longtime friend and political ally of Pelosi's.
"Raising money doesn't hurt," Burton said. "But what's important is raising money to offset the tremendous advantage Republicans have from special interests and from having control of the White House."
