Cash lag dogs Democrats in 2016 race

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Democratic National Committee barely has more cash than it does IOUs, and it is being outraised month after month by the Republican committee.

Its $24 million debt from the 2012 presidential election, only recently paid down, has squeezed investments in the next White House race.

Those fundraising realities are top of mind as Democratic officials, donors and activists meet through Saturday in Minneapolis. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee and former Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia are scheduled to speak to attendees today.

Federal Election Commission reports that the committee collected $36.5 million in the first six months of the year and had almost no money in special accounts, including one designated for its convention. It had about $7.6 million in available cash and $6.2 million in debts and loans.

The Republican National Committee, coming out of years in the red, posted $63 million in receipts through June, leaving it with $16.7 million cash on hand and $1.8 million in debts and loans. Party fundraising dominance has flipped: At this point before the 2012 election, the Democratic committee was outpacing the Republicans.

Republicans also have been far more active in using the accounts created last year by Congress that enable donors to give at higher levels, investing about eight times what Democrats have.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic committee's chairman, said she isn't worried.

"We are building the organization now to make sure that whoever our ultimate nominee is, they are in the best possible position to win next November," she said in a statement, "and we are confident we will have the resources we need."

Raymond Buckley, chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, said that while state parties will always want more, he's happy with the investments the national committee has made across the country.

"A successful 2016 is going to depend on what's on the ground locally," he said, adding that the Democratic committee's assistance to state parties, in the form of enhanced voter files and leadership training, is "light-years" ahead of where it was in previous years.

On Thursday, the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign completed their joint fundraising plan. The four other Democratic candidates are still in negotiations with party officials.

The role of the parties in fundraising has diminished in recent years as super political action committees and nonprofit policy groups that aren't required to reveal their donors have risen to prominence. Unlike candidates and the political parties, those outside groups aren't constrained by contribution limits as long these super PACs don't coordinate with candidates' campaigns. Donors, whose names must be reported to the Federal Election Commission, now have more choices about where to send their money and often see outside groups as a better way to influence elections.

President Barack Obama has contributed to the array of options.

After his 2012 re-election, his campaign formed a policy shop called Organizing for Action rather than folding back into the Democratic National Committee. That group raised about $5 million in the first six months of the year and maintains control of a social network and email list of millions of Democratic supporters.

The Democratic committee recently began using the group's email list -- which at one point included 20 million addresses of Obama supporters -- and Democratic officials said Thursday that they've finalized a way to make it "a key piece of infrastructure" for the party.

"President Obama is fully committed to seeing a Democrat elected to the White House in 2016, and he's taking this important step to help make that future a reality," Matt Compton, the committee's digital director, said in a statement.

Obama remains a top draw for the party. He has spoken at 19 committee fundraisers this year, more than his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush, did in his seventh year of office. Obama also is on track nearly to match President Bill Clinton's fundraising pace from 1999, when he attended 44 committee fundraisers.

A Section on 08/28/2015

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