GOP losers sore about millions that Republican senators still have on hand
RAW STORY
Published:
Wednesday December 13, 2006
 With tens of millions of dollars in cash on hand, Republican Senators returning to the 110th Congress expressed little regret over not providing more money to shore up the campaigns of their defeated colleagues this November, according to an article in The Hill.
The report, written by Brad Haynes, discusses the soft efforts of the National Republican Senatorial Committee to raise money to help out imperiled campaigns that ultimately turned the majority over to the Democrats. And most Republican Senators sitting on millions in their campaign warchests for 2008, or even 2010, showed little sympathy to the idea that they should have given more.
Senator John Cornyn of Texas said he had no regrets about only offering $50,000 out of the $2.8 million he had on hand at the end of the last reporting period, telling The Hill “They basically had everything they needed and money wasn’t a determining factor.”
But one prominent defeated incumbent, George Allen of Virginia, saw things differently. He remarked "Heck, when you lose a race as close as ours was, by three-tenths of one percent, it’s like a close football game when you lose by one point."
The full article can be accessed at The Hill's website. An excerpt is provided below.
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Several Republican senators emphasized the importance of other campaign efforts, including joint fundraising dinners, leadership PACs, campaign appearances with colleagues and contributions directly to candidates. When it came to unrestricted transfers from their own reelection accounts to the NRSC, though, they saw no reason to give more.
“In terms of my own campaign funds, my obligation to the Republican conference is to get reelected,” said Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), who gave $25,000 and still had $2.3 million on hand at the end of September, citing a tough 2008 race in his center-left state.
Smith is one of 21 Republicans in a challenging cycle for the GOP, with only 12 potential Democratic seats available to pick up.
And while many Republican senators and staffers insist that funding was not a deciding factor this year, the key races that cost the GOP its majority were close. Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), for example, lost by fewer than 3,000 votes in the inexpensive Montana media market.
“At the end of the day,” said the GOP aide, “Republican senators should be cutting checks.”
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