From today’s WSJ Political Diary E-mail:
The retirement wave hasn’t been all bad news for House Republicans. More than a dozen Republicans will be leaving Congress after 2008, but several of them are handing over much of their campaign accounts to the National Republican Congressional Committee, which has been struggling all year to get out of debt and catch up with its free-spending Democratic counterpart.
Departing Louisiana Rep. Jim McCrery gave $200,000 at a fundraising meeting held by the House Republican Conference two days ago to retire the NRCC’s debt. New Jersey’s Jim Saxton, sitting on a war chest larger than $1 million, is expected to donate generously from his campaign account as well. Not all the giving by their colleagues was equally altruistic, however. Mr. McCrery, the ranking Republican on the powerful House Ways & Means Committee, has sparked a battle among those hoping to succeed him in the post. The second- and third-ranking GOP members of the committee, California Rep. Wally Herger and Michigan Rep. Dave Camp, each sought to impress colleagues with generous donations of $250,000 and $400,000, respectively.
Whatever the motive, the fundraising drive erased the NRCC’s debt, thanks to Minority Leader John Boehner and California Rep. David Dreier, who organized the effort and chipped in half a million each from their own campaign funds. Outside donations were also stronger than expected given the House GOP’s dismal performance in recent years. One reason was renewed enthusiasm after Republicans won special elections last week in Ohio and Virginia by wide margins, an NRCC spokeswoman tells us.
Still, for all the good news, the GOP has a way to go before it catches up with the DCCC. Through October 31, Democrats held $29.2 million cash on hand with a $2.1 million debt. Republicans had only $2.5 million in the bank and a $3.6 million debt.