UNCONSTITUTIONAL, BUT HELPFUL

GOP gains 2-to-1 edge in vulnerable House districts (Hans Nichols and Peter Savodnik, 4/30/03, The Hill)

Among House lawmakers who narrowly won their last race with 55 percent or less of the vote, Republican incumbents raised twice as much money than their Democratic counterparts in the first three months of the year.

Both the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) and the Democratic counter-Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) have been closely scrutinizing their vulnerable members? fundraising numbers for the first reporting quarter.

Federal Election Commission (FEC) reports show that in the House, the 23 vulnerable Republicans raked in an average of roughly $150,000. That?s nearly twice as much as the $70,000 raised by the 29 vulnerable House Democrats.

For lawmakers from at-risk seats, the new McCain-Feingold quarterly fundraising reports were a chance to ward off potential challengers by demonstrating an early show of strength ? a commitment to raise the money highly useful in trying to retain a competitive seat.

?It shows that our potentially vulnerable members are getting out there early to scare off some potential challengers,? said Carl Forti, spokesman for the NRCC. ?Incumbents are out there working hard to get reelected.?

The GOP can't help but pick up Senate seats this cycle, but retaining the House again, and maybe even adding some seats if the President runs strongly enough, would mark the sixth consecutive election they've carried a body that as late as the early 90's it was widely accepted they might never control again. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 1, 2003 1:09 PM