Political Money Machines
Everyone knows money is one of the biggest and most important aspects of campaigns and politics. In order to win elections, you have to have money and know how to wisely use it.
Something that I am somewhat concerned about for my party right now is the money situation.
The GOP has long been the party with business community ties and therefore usually has been able to command a fundraising advantage over the democrats. There is no better example of this than in Virginia, when Mark Warner was the first democrat in forever to outspend a GOP opponent in a governor's race (of course this was due to his personal wealth, but it still illistrates the point).
One thing that concerns me right now for the Va GOP is that we may find ourselves in a fundraising crunch. Right now, the dems are in a much better position with respect to fundraisers than we are. The dems have a former governor (and possible VP candidate), sitting governor, and sitting Senator. They also have 3 sitting congressmen who all have relatively powerful positions due to their senority. Not only that, but Warner has a huge cash pile that he will not need for an '08 run, which he can send to races in '07 and also for his gubentorial race in '09.
Compare this to the GOP, who at this time last year had a sitting Senator and presidential hopeful, LG and AG, and 8 congressmen; 4 of which held powerful positions in the House. That greatly enabled us to raise money by having a great stable of headliners for fundraisers and events. Now with the loss of Sen. Allen and the House majority; we find ourselves at a great disadvantage.
This is particularly concerning to me because the GOP has a more expensive structure for campaigns. We rely heavily on GOTV and media to get our message and our voters to the polls. We do not have the luxury the dems do of having unions do alot of work for us, we have to do it ourselves. If we now find ourselves being outspend by the dems; we could be at a major disadvantage.
Fundraising matters most in races like HOD and state senate where money can be limited. Typically whoever has a better bench to fundraise from will have the upper hand. That bench is quickly turning into a democratic stronghold, and the General Assembly will follow if we cannot do something to stem the tide.
Something that I am somewhat concerned about for my party right now is the money situation.
The GOP has long been the party with business community ties and therefore usually has been able to command a fundraising advantage over the democrats. There is no better example of this than in Virginia, when Mark Warner was the first democrat in forever to outspend a GOP opponent in a governor's race (of course this was due to his personal wealth, but it still illistrates the point).
One thing that concerns me right now for the Va GOP is that we may find ourselves in a fundraising crunch. Right now, the dems are in a much better position with respect to fundraisers than we are. The dems have a former governor (and possible VP candidate), sitting governor, and sitting Senator. They also have 3 sitting congressmen who all have relatively powerful positions due to their senority. Not only that, but Warner has a huge cash pile that he will not need for an '08 run, which he can send to races in '07 and also for his gubentorial race in '09.
Compare this to the GOP, who at this time last year had a sitting Senator and presidential hopeful, LG and AG, and 8 congressmen; 4 of which held powerful positions in the House. That greatly enabled us to raise money by having a great stable of headliners for fundraisers and events. Now with the loss of Sen. Allen and the House majority; we find ourselves at a great disadvantage.
This is particularly concerning to me because the GOP has a more expensive structure for campaigns. We rely heavily on GOTV and media to get our message and our voters to the polls. We do not have the luxury the dems do of having unions do alot of work for us, we have to do it ourselves. If we now find ourselves being outspend by the dems; we could be at a major disadvantage.
Fundraising matters most in races like HOD and state senate where money can be limited. Typically whoever has a better bench to fundraise from will have the upper hand. That bench is quickly turning into a democratic stronghold, and the General Assembly will follow if we cannot do something to stem the tide.
posted by GOPHokie @ 3:58 PM
2 Comments:
At 1/17/2007 1:24 PM,
Anonymous said…
Don't forget about the division between factions of the GOP within the General Assembly. Special interest groups such as VCAP and Virginians for a Conservative State Senate taking advantage of this division have been able to raise a significant amount of money which normally might of gone into the state party coffers.
At 1/17/2007 6:38 PM,
GOPHokie said…
Your point goes even further. Now we have to essentially raise twice as much as the dems just to break even; since we have so many primary battles.
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