House GOP Short on Fundraising
Everywhere you look the message is being sent to the Republican Party: sincerely and tangibly return to your conservative roots, or lose donations, and consequently, elections.
The message is being sent but it certainly isn’t being heard.
From Politico.com:
House rank-and-file Republicans are tens of millions of dollars short of meeting fundraising targets set by their own campaign committee in advance of this fall’s elections, according to figures circulating among the leadership, heightening concerns inside the party about major losses in November.
Most recent figures show that GOP lawmakers have brought $27 million into the coffers of the National Republican Congressional Committee in the past 17 months, far short of the target of about $58 million. Compounding the challenge, they will soon be asked to raise an additional $20 million or more to help candidates in selected battleground districts.
Who has the House GOP tapped to try to turn this around? Well none other than Rep. Tom Davis (R-Virginia). If you didn’t see it, I wrote a post about Rep. Davis’ assessment of why Republicans are losing.
Here’s an excerpt:
“Parties that are attracting people, that have welcome mats out, tend to do better than parties that tend to shrink and become exclusionary and have an admissions test before you can run for office,” Mr. Davis told editors and reporters at The Washington Times on Tuesday, describing the path he sees Republicans taking after losing their congressional majorities in 2006.
“We tend to be shrinking right now into a ball, to get into the core, and ultimately that’s not a path to victory,” he said, adding that Republicans appear to be waiting for Democrats to collapse. “The theory is it gets so bad [voters] turn to us. That’s not an automatic.”
I love it. Some of these politicians would have us believe that they’re experts in certain areas or that they understand electoral politics, therefore they’re smarter than you or I.
You know what? They’re morons. Some of them arguably have reasoning and logical skills that are less than an average fourth grader.
If you’re a Republican, and you’re smart, how can you not understand why you’re losing?
You’re losing for precisely the opposite reason Davis claims you are.
He says Republicans are losing because “We tend to be shrinking right now into a ball, to get into the core.” That’s not at all what the party is doing. In fact if it was the party wouldn’t be in the situation it’s in right now.
Let me repeat it.
Attention all Republicans: you’re not losing because you haven’t created a big enough “tent;” you’re losing because you’ve become increasingly liberal, and have therefore moved away from the conservative base.
Back to the Politico piece:
And strikingly, Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, who was appointed head of the committee formed after the three election defeats, has raised only $50,000 against his assessment of more than $605,000, according to NRCC figures. Davis was chairman of the NRCC while Republicans held the majority, and he recently warned in a blistering memo that the party faces a political environment that is “the worst since Watergate and far more toxic than the fall of 2006 when we lost 30 seats.”
Republicans concede that the perception of another impending defeat makes potential donors even less inclined to contribute.
According to Davis, the GOP is facing the worst political environment since Watergate. Do you know what he’s getting at folks? He believes that the lack of fundraising is due to the whole “Culture of Corruption” branding the Dems gave them in 2006.
That’s a very small slice of the pie. The biggest slice of the pie belongs to selling out conservative principles.
The reason donors fear impending defeat is because defeat is coming, and it’s due to the GOP strategy of throwing darts at the “independent/moderate” board at the expense of conservatives.
Many Republicans have made a fatal electoral calculation: we’re going to get more than enough independent voters to offset the lost conservative voters.
Wrong.
The bottom line is that donations will not start flowing in as long as GOPers like Tom Davis continue to ignore the real reason they’re losing.
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment