WASHINGTON — Democrats in the House and Senate will have to rely on their own fundraising prowess after learning they will not be getting any help from the president’s re-election campaign.
According to Politico, Obama 2012 campaign manager Jim Messina and White House senior adviser David Plouffe told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) that Democrats in Congress will not be able to rely on the $30 million they received in 2008 and 2010 from Obama for America (OFA) and the Democratic National Committee.
President Obama has also committed to attending just one fundraiser each for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), according to the report.
“Our top priority and focus is to secure the electoral votes necessary to reelect the president,” Messina told Politico. “There’s no doubt that Democratic campaigns face a challenging new political landscape with special interests giving unlimited amounts to super PACs. We’re committed to doing everything we can to elect a Democratic House and Senate, and we’re having a conversation about the best way to achieve that goal.”
Despite its reluctance to share resources with its Democratic House and Senate campaign fundraising arms, officials at the 2012 re-election campaign stressed that having a strong leader at the top of the ticket would inevitably help downticket candidates in November.
The Obama campaign raised approximately $750 million during the 2008 cycle, but may have a hard time repeating that feat this time, despite earlier projections of a billion-dollar campaign. The new approach reflects the reality of a president in a tough re-election climate who must do battle against the Republican nominee as well as GOP super PACs which can spend unlimited amounts to damage the president.
Although there is private unhappiness among some congressional Democrats over the Obama team’s stance, Politico reported that the congressional fundraising operations sounded optimistic in public statements.
“We appreciate everything that OFA is doing to help and look forward to working with them as we each reach our goals this cycle,” Jennifer Crider, the DCCC’s communications director, said.
While House Democrats must win 25 seats to take back control of the US House of Representatives, Democrats in the Senate face a tough challenge holding on to their majority. Of the 33 seats being contested in 2012, Democrats hold 23 of them with only a slim 53-47 seat majority.