Dems Swamp GOP in Money Chase By: Jeanne Cummings April 4, 2007 03:36 PM EST
In the much-watched first quarter of presidential fundraising, the Democratic candidates raised more than twice as much as their Republican counterparts, a huge gap that is putting added pressure on a party already struggling to regroup after the November elections.
According to preliminary fundraising numbers released by the campaigns this week, the combined Democratic field raised about $80 million, compared with roughly $40 million collected by their GOP adversaries.
In 1999, the last presidential race without an incumbent in the race, Republicans raised $33 million in the first quarter, compared with $13 million by the Democrats, according to the Campaign Finance Institute. The disparity was also evident in 1988, when the Republican field reported $19 million in first-quarter fundraising, compared with $3 million by the Democrats.
“It’s a big gap. It’s huge,” said one Republican insider who asked for anonymity so he could speak frankly. “We don’t need to close it in the second quarter, but we need to close it by the end of the year.”
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