Redstate

By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in 2008 | fundraising — Comments (1) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

I do hope that all those people who believe that fundraising is a sign of political enthusiasm and that the Obama campaign's success at fundraising means that there are more people enthusiastic about the Obama campaign and Democratic prospects than there are people enthusiastic about the McCain campaign and Republican prospects take note of this:

Led by chairman Mike Duncan, the Republican National Committee ended May with 13 times more money in the bank than its Democratic counterpart and raised five times as much money in the same time frame.

As The Times' campaign finance guru Dan Morain points out, the sums are significant as presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain squares off against the far more richly funded Sen. BaraRepublican National Committee chairman Mike Duncan who's leading a successful fundraising drive for GOP presidential nominee John McCainck Obama for the last 136 days of the general election campaign.

Based on the numbers so far, the Republican Party appears poised to act as the financial equalizer in the fall campaign. The RNC disclosed that it ended May with $53.5 million in the bank, compared to $3.9 million for the Democratic National Committee, which is headed by Howard Dean.

And this:

For the first time in the campaign, Republican John McCain in May raised about the same amount of money, $22 million, as Democrat Barack Obama.

McCain also closed the gap in the amount of cash the two parties' presumptive presidential nominees have in the bank at their respective disposals as they enter the first phase of the general election.

McCain reported having about $32 million in cash for primary-related expenses at the end of May.

Obama reported having $43 million in hand at the start of June -- but about $10 million of that is dedicated to the general election.

Obama's fundraising in May marked a sharp dropoff after months of record-breaking donations. Even in difficult times, such as the key loss he suffered in Pennsylvania in April, Obama brought in a steady flow of cash that usually topped $30 million a month.