Democrats invest in grass roots

WASHINGTON – The national Democratic Party has spent millions on raising money, consultants and building state parties, entering the weeks before Election Day with only about one-fifth as much as the Republicans for races that could decide control of Congress.

The Republican National Committee is prepared to spend $60 million over the next seven weeks on advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts to protect the GOP’s narrow majorities in the House and Senate.

The Democratic National Committee plans to use about $12 million, all devoted to getting voters to the polls. Even in that effort, though, it has set aside only an average of $60,000 in each of the 40 most competitive congressional races in the country.

Under Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean, the DNC has delivered more resources than any other toward building the party at the state level. In doing so, the DNC as of July 31 had transferred nearly $17 million to state and local party committees across the country, with significantly more going to states with competitive races, according to party officials.

Between Jan. 1, 2005 and July 31 of this year, the party spent about $90.2 million, about a third of that on fundraising expenses, ranging from more than $8 million in direct mail to $10,500 for an event for donors at the five-star Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.

The party has reported spending $2.9 million on political consulting and nearly $1 million on legal consulting fees, according to data compiled by Political Money Line, a data base for political spending. The political consulting figure includes money spent on summer interns, party officials said.

Both parties will rely heavily on their congressional campaign committees for advertising and voter outreach. But while the GOP is operating at a political disadvantage this election, its financial edge could be crucial.

Republican Party Chairman Ken Mehlman has developed a highly touted voter outreach operation that party operatives say he will blend with targeted television advertising. It is an operation that helped with a Republican victory in a special congressional election in California and with securing Sen. Lincoln Chafee’s Republican primary win in Rhode Island.

To be sure, Republicans have long been able to raise more money than Democrats. Dean, a prolific fundraiser, has been successful at bringing in more money by Democratic standards. But his decision to spend more on states has angered Washington-based party operatives who want to place the party’s focus on winning control of Congress and set the stage to regain the White House in 2008.

One Democratic strategist, speaking on condition of anonymity, pointed out that Dean has raised and spent a significant amount of money, arguing that winning this year is crucial to the party winning in 2008.

But Dean’s strategy has vast support from state party officials who have been pleading for years for help from the Democratic national committee.