DNC's Cash On Hand Is Low

The Democratic National Committee reported yesterday that it ended the year with 2.9M cash on hand -- about $14M less than the Republican Party.

Why?

Let's go behind the numbers.

The DNC says it's been making investments in infrastructure, including its national voter file, and continues to pay for dedicated staff in most of the 50 states. The party also notes that it sent Jim Webb's Senate campaign $10M at the last minute and spent heavily on congressional races (although some '06-cycle DCCCers might disagree.

The good news for Dems is that the party is almost out of debt -- it has about $125,000 that it needs to pay off. And it managed to raise more than $51M in 2007, about $8.5M more than in 2003 -- the first pre-presidential year after the passage of campaign finance reform.

The RNC continues to be the only Republican vehicle to outraise its Democratic counterpart, taking in $87M in 2007.