Republican Party Coffers Offset Obama's Cash Advantage

By Greg Giroux, CQ Staff Fri Jul 25, 4:14 PM ET

As anyone who has been following the presidential election knows, Barack Obama has raised substantial sums of campaign cash for his presidential campaign -- far more than John McCain.

But Obama's cash advantage over McCain is offset by the financial strength of the Republican National Committee (RNC) -- at least as compared to its partisan counterpart, the Democratic National Committee (DNC). According to updated reports that the two national party committees recently filed with the Federal Election Commission, the RNC had $68.7 million left to spend and the DNC had $4.5 million at the beginning of July.

At a similar point four years ago -- the end of June 2004, when President Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry were preparing for the general election -- the RNC had $77.8 million left to spend and the DNC had $60 million on hand.

Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager, said earlier this month that McCain would be able to budget for a $400 million election push thanks to the help the RNC can provide.

About half of the RNC's $25.8 million in June receipts came in the form of transfers from affiliate organizations. Nearly all of these funds came from four joint fundraising committees from which the McCain campaign and the RNC receive a share of the receipts: McCain Victory 2008 ($10.5 million); McCain Victory California ($895,000); McCain Victory Committee ($789,000); and McCain Victory Florida ($538,000).

McCain Victory 2008, the largest of the committees, also gives a share of its receipts to the Republican Party organizations in Colorado, New Mexico, Minnesota and Wisconsin -- four states that should be closely contested in the fall campaign.

Like the McCain committee, the RNC transferred money to party affiliates in states in which McCain and Obama are actively competing. The six states that received the most from the RNC in June -- Ohio, Missouri, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Iowa and Michigan -- backed either Bush or Kerry by less than 7 percentage points in the 2004 election.

The DNC has lagged behind the RNC in available cash-on-hand in part because the DNC pays for salaries for staff in all 50 states -- part of a national party plan to build a more vibrant Democratic Party organization in all states, even those that traditionally have voted strongly Republican.

Republican National Committee (RNC)

- June 2008 receipts: $25.8 million

- Cycle-to-date receipts: $193.5 million

- June 2008 expenditures: $10.6 million

- Cycle-to-date expenditures: $127.8 million

- Cash, June 30: $68.7 million

- Debts, June 30: $0

Notable contributions from individual donors

- Bobby Burchfield, partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery and the general counsel to the 1992 campaign of President George H.W. Bush: $28,500

- Richard M. DeVos Jr., the former president of Alticor who was the losing Republican nominee for governor in 2006: $28,500

- John G. Malcolm, senior vice president at the Motion Picture Association of America: $20,000

- William C. Steere Jr., former chief executive officer of Pfizer: $13,500

- James S. Turley, chairman and chief executive officer of Ernst and Young: $5,000

Notable transfers to state Republican Party organizations

- Ohio: $179,000

- Missouri: $105,000

- Nevada: $86,000

- Pennsylvania: $60,000

- Iowa: $42,000

- Michigan: $40,000

Democratic National Committee (DNC)