Democrats Are Winning the Money War

I am uneasy about November’s election, partly because I don’t think Republicans have succeeded in nationalizing (or even drawing much attention to) the election, partly because any coherent themes are being drowned out by various “squirrels” (Ray Rice and the NFL, for instance), and partly because the Democrats are raising an astonishing amount of money to defend the dysfunctional status quo. Politico headlines: “Democrats relying on big donors to win.”

Democrats love to cast Republicans as the party of big money, beholden to the out-of-touch billionaires bankrolling their campaigns.

But new numbers tell a very different story — one in which Democrats are actually raising more big money than their adversaries.

Among the groups reporting the biggest political ad spending, the 15 top Democrat-aligned committees have outraised the 15 top Republican ones $453 million to $289 million in the 2014 cycle, according to a POLITICO analysis of the most recent Federal Election Commission reports, including those filed over the weekend — which cover through the end of last month.

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The analysis shows the fundraising edge widening in August, when the Democratic groups pulled in more than twice as much as their GOP counterparts — $51 million to $21 million. That’s thanks to a spike in massive checks from increasingly energized labor unions and liberal billionaires like Tom Steyer and Fred Eychaner.

This is only surprising to those who haven’t been paying attention. Cronyism has always worked well if you are a crony. Like most of us, you probably don’t fall into the “major donor” category, but every little bit helps. If you are looking for good conservative candidates to support, please check out the Power Line Picks in the sidebar.

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