WASHINGTON -- The campaign committee tasked with electing Democrats to the Senate raised $2.5 million in the three days following the Supreme Court's ruling on the president's health care law, a committee source tells The Huffington Post.
The total resembles a historic haul for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), which raised $5.6 million in all of May combined. And it underscores what Democrats have been arguing since the court ruled that President Barack Obama's health care law was constitutional: that the decision was just as galvanizing for their party as it was for Republicans.
"We shattered records for number of online donations in a day on Thursday and then again on Saturday as our supporters learned about the SCOTUS ruling and Republican plans to continue shameless partisan efforts to repeal the law," DSCC communications director Matt Canter told The Huffington Post.
On Monday, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said it had raised $2.3 million since the court's ruling, from roughly 65,000 donors. The Obama campaign has said that its fundraising has ballooned as well, though unlike the Romney campaign, which raised more than $5.5 million by the day after the ruling, it has not released figures.
The money, ironically, will help Democrats shield themselves from attacks against the president's health care law, which could be harder for congressional candidates than for Obama (only the president, after all, gets to run against someone who passed an individual mandate on the state level).
But even the massive flood of donations may not be enough. The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) declined to say how much it had raised off the health care ruling, adding only that it had witnessed a "significant" uptick in online fundraising.
"From a purely political standpoint, the Supreme Court's confirmation that this was a massive tax on small businesses and the middle class represents the worst possible outcome for every Democratic Senate candidate that backed Obamacare," said Brian Walsh, NRSC's communications director. "It's an issue that Senate Republican candidates across the country will be hammering from now until Election Day."
The combined $4.8 million haul by the DSCC and DCCC, meanwhile, is not even half the amount that casino-magnate Sheldon Adelson has pledged to Romney's super PAC.
Super PACs, of course, play by different rules. And for the DSCC, the strong fundraising haul was cause for jubilation.
"There should be no misunderstanding," said Guy Cecil, DSCC's executive director. "The decision by a conservative Supreme Court to uphold the president's health care law generated tremendous enthusiasm and financial support for our committee and our candidates. I'm sure Republicans are also raising plenty of money from their supporters by proclaiming their plans to fully repeal the law, but many of them know that undecided voters are ready to move on and focus on the economy and creating good paying jobs."
Before You Go
