Joobo the King of Wisdom

Thanks to Howard Dean, the Downies are Falling Further and Further Behind in Fundraising

The Downies were warned when they named Supreme Fruitpie Howard Dean as the chairman of their silly party that fundraising would fall way off. The party still named him.

A year later, things have gone from bad to worse for the Downies.

It couldn't be happening to nicer people.

The Wallet-to-Wallet Chasm

Despite a lackluster showing in 2005 elections for the GOP, the Republican National Committee raked in better than $100 million last year and enjoys its largest cash-on-hand lead over its Democratic counterpart in more than a decade.

For the year just passed, the RNC brought in nearly $102 million -- give or take a few hundred thousand -- and had $34 million in the bank. The Democratic National Committee raised $51 million in 2005 but showed $5.5 million on hand at the end of the year.

That cash disparity, which has led to grumbling and fretting by some people in the Democratic establishment, will be a major asset come November, RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman argued.

"There's no question it's an advantage," he said. "We are in a position to be able to maintain majorities in the House and Senate by providing campaigns with the resources they need to be successful." Under campaign finance laws, the RNC can make unlimited transfers of campaign cash to other Republican national committees.

The Democrats -- led by DNC Chairman Howard Dean -- spent considerable resources in 2005 on resuscitating state parties and now have operatives on the ground in all 50 states. The party also made a successful investment in helping fund efforts to elect Democrat Timothy M. Kaine governor of Virginia.

Mehlman sought to cast the fundraising as the result of the RNC's "balanced approach" of courting large-dollar donors and working to encourage the small-dollar, grass-roots donor base, which grew by 250,000 new voters in 2005, he said.

He pitches in, too, spending seven or eight hours a week on the telephone thanking donors and soliciting contributions. "I'm a big believer [that] if you call and say thank you as well as asking for something, it's a good deal," he said.

In addition to dialing for dollars, Mehlman has crisscrossed the country in search of campaign cash. In 2005, he appeared at nearly 100 fundraising events.

The story here is that the RNC is beating the shit out of the DNC. And that means more money for candidates to shield them from the DNC inspired "culture of corruption" canard that the left intends to run on in November.