To Stifle or To Compete

IN June 2005, after the last financial-disclosure reports from the 2004 election had been filed and the final totals calculated, a group of Republican insiders gathered in a conference room at the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. The pollsters, politicians, lawyers, and lobbyists had been asked to come by Pennsylvania Republican senator Rick Santorum, who wanted them to hear how the GOP, while winning the presidency, the House, and the Senate, had nevertheless lost-big time: the 2004 fundraising contest for contributions to “527” organizations, those anything-goes groups that allowed financier George Soros to spend more than $24 million of his own money in the drive to defeat George W. Bush.

The group listened as Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer and campaign-finance expert, presented her study of 2004 financing. Mitchell began by showing how well the Republican party had performed in raising money the old-fashioned way: in so-called hard-money contributions to party committees. In 2004, the three big Republican committees-the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and the National Republican Congressional Committee-out-raised the comparable Democratic committees by a huge amount: Republicans brought in $898 million, Democrats $679 million.

About the Author

Byron York

Byron York is a former White House correspondent for National Review.

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IN June 2005, after the last financial-disclosure reports from the 2004 election had been filed and the final totals calculated, a group of Republican insiders gathered in a conference room at the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. The pollsters, politicians, lawyers, and lobbyists had been asked to come by Pennsylvania Republican senator Rick Santorum, who wanted them to hear how the GOP, while winning the presidency, the House, and the Senate, had nevertheless lost-big time: the 2004 fundraising contest for contributions to “527” organizations, those anything-goes groups that allowed financier George Soros to spend more than $24 million of his own money in the drive to defeat George W. Bush.

The group listened as Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer and campaign-finance expert, presented her study of 2004 financing. Mitchell began by showing how well the Republican party had performed in raising money the old-fashioned way: in so-called hard-money contributions to party committees. In 2004, the three big Republican committees-the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and the National Republican Congressional Committee-out-raised the comparable Democratic committees by a huge amount: Republicans brought in $898 million, Democrats $679 million.