Campaign Committees Thump Chests About Fundraising Numbers

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee boasted Friday that it out-raised its Republican counterpart for the third straight quarter, increasing its cash-on-hand advantage over the National Republican Senatorial Committee to $5 million.

The DSCC raised $10.2 million in the third quarter, $1.5 million more than it raised in the third quarter of 2005. The DSCC was aided by an especially strong month of September, during which it outraised the NRSC by nearly $3 million. With the 2010 mid-term elections only twelve months away, the DSCC is in strong financial shape, with double the cash-on-hand of the NRSC and an energized donor base across the country.

That's despite the fact that the NRSC hosted several awesome barbecue fundraisers at its headquarters in August. The Huffington Post visited one of them with $100 in hand, looking for some hot dogs. But nobody ever wants HuffPost's money at these things, for some reason.

The NRSC raised $3.2 million in September, bringing its total for the year to $29.7 million to the DSCC's $33.3 million, The Hill reported.

Weird stuff on the House side. Per The Hill, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said it raised $5.3 million from small donors. But per the National Journal, the DCCC raised $5.57 million. Wha?

The smaller number, explained the DCCC to LobbyBlog, encompasses only "grass-roots, low-dollar appeals" -- the higher number includes all the totals for telephone, Internet, and mail outreach. The average size of those contributions was $39.86, compared to the NRCC's average donation of $46.66.

The Republican's have 'em beat either way: the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee said it raised $5.59 million from small donors.