RNC to seek emergancy $5 million line of credit to save GOP candidates

[TeamJordan23]

The Republican National Committee, growing nervous over the prospect of Democrats’ winning a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, is considering tapping into a $5 million line of credit this week to aid an increasing number of vulnerable incumbents, top Republicans say.

With party strategists fearing a bloodbath at the polls, GOP officials are shifting to triage mode, determining who can be saved and where to best spend their money.

And with the House and Senate Republican campaign committees being drastically outspent by their Democratic counterparts, and outside group such as Freedom’s Watch offering far less help than was once anticipated, Republicans are turning to the national party committee as a lender of last resort.

GOP sources emphasized they would not be diverting money from John McCain, who they promised would continue to enjoy a steady stream of ads from the party’s independent expenditure arm. The party raised a record $66 million last month, and McCain is increasingly relying on RNC funds. “We’re not giving up on McCain,” said a top GOP source. “We’re still going to do everything we can there because his margin and what he does affects these races.”A senior Republican said: “We’re much better off having a competitive presidential ticket.”

But that the party would use new money to block a Democratic triumph in the Senate rather than boost the odds of its presidential nominee speaks volumes about what many Republicans think is still salvageable. And some in the GOP, especially those working on House and Senate races in which their candidates’ poll numbers swoon during the financial crisis, are increasingly agitated about money being spent on what all observers, including McCain, acknowledge is an uphill fight on top of the ticket.

“They should pull the money from ­McCain like Haley Barbour did in ’96, when Dole slid away, and funnel it to save some Senate and House seats as best they can,” said one longtime GOP strategist who is working on congressional races.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1008/Triage.html?showall

[Hawkeye-X]

1. Approved! But wwith 3,500% APR!

Fuck you, Thugs!

[Roland99]

2. oooo....bake sale!!

[Cha]

19. cindy can whip up some of her infamous

cookies.

[Motown_Johnny]

3. Hmmm...... isn't this kinda what Hillary tried? Except she loaned it to herself

[Tatiana]

4. How can anyone lend them credit when the world is in the middle of a CREDIT CRISIS?

Unreal.

[FLyellowdog]

6. Exactly!!!!!

[DJ13]

5. I hope the bank charges them the same rate they charge many other folks

Like the same 30% they think average Americans can afford on credit cards.

[anonymous171]

7. lol I thought this was a joke when I first saw the headline.

[Barack_America]

8. Talk about a credit risk!

C'mon!

[PBS Poll-435]

34. OH no you didn't!

:rofl:

[KathieG]

9. GOP bailout? Jesus.

[nc4bo]

10. Wait, didn't the RNC just get a $8mil loan from Wachovia? nt

[texastoast]

22. There was some loan I read about to the RNC as part of the bailout

Jeez, there are so many CYA stories that I can't keep up anymore.

[nc4bo]

25. I really have to wonder what shape the RNC's finances are really in.

Obama's September #'s are looking great so far at $66mil and will probably go much higher when they release the final numbers.

I can't help but think that perhaps the RNC's September #'s have taken a southward turn. Ya think?

Hmmmmmmmmm......

[gravity]

11. How can a party recieve credit?

Do they have collateral, or expect a return for the money.

I mean they are just going to waste it on a week of shitty ads, and then pull the money out of their ass.

[DRoseDARs]

12. Are they gonna hit up their supplier Wachovia again?

Just askin'... :shrug:

[windbreeze]

13. Do they hope to get it from the bailout??

where are they going to get it otherwise...and IF they do manage, then someone better be checking it out to see where it's coming from, I mean, banks are failing because there is no money to lend, businesses are failing, because orders can't be delivered...what the hell??...wb

[GrizzlyMan]

14. So much for the mythical $160 million push

Fox News reported on over the weekend. You don't go looking for credit when you have $160 million in the bank.

[ProSense]

27. Seriously, what happened to all the MSM reports about how the RNC was

outraising the DNC?

[Bucky]

15. They'll pay that loan off quickly after Obama fixes the economy

that's kinda ironic, isn't it?

[gristy]

16. A loan! To try to help Republican's get elected!

That's pretty damn funny.

[nolabels]

18. Now that you point it out

:rofl:

[Fleshdancer]

17. Bleed 'em dry

:applause:

[Historic NY]

30. exactly makes them waste every damn dollar.

[KaryninMiami]

20. They can borrow it from Romney-he can afford it and he'll do anything

and say anythng to become President one day. Maybe they can cut a deal with him and promise to make him the candidate in 2012 in exchange for a loan at low interest or perhaps even a donation...

[stillcool]

21. Where's Tom Delay when you need him?

[TheKentuckian]

23. yup, they sure have $160m to burn on McHoover

don't they?

If he had $160m at his disposal 3 weeks out he wouldn't pull out a state.

What good is 5 million spread out over all their sinking candidates?

The Republicans are in trouble from the top down, more trouble than they are making out.

[quiet.american]

24. Sure hope none of the $700B ends up in their coffers. nt

[Thrill]

26. They shouldn't of been flooding McCain's camapign

[Stuart G]

28. That is why we need our own list where we can send our money....

see this thread please...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4232191

[ShadowLiberal]

29. Didn't the RNC just raise a record $60+ million last month?

Maybe it wasn't quite that much (I could be confusing it with Obama's numbers), but they raised a record amount of money for August I definitely recall, with them crediting Palin motivating the base for it.

Maybe their cash has dried up from enthusiasm drying up, I read today that polls show GOP enthusiasum down to preconvention levels.

[Bobbie Jo]

31. They shouldn't put up $5 bucks for any one of them.

When you suck at your job, you get fired. Deal with it. :eyes:

[muntrv]

32. C'mon republickers! Live within your means!!

:evilgrin:

[nc4bo]

33. Here's another $5mil ad buy. Funny that they are both for the same amount.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/13/gop-opens-wallet-for-ads/

October 13, 2008, 10:13 pm
G.O.P. Opens Wallet for Ads
By Leslie Wayne

Flush with cash, the Republican National Committee is beginning to open its wallet to broadcast new advertisements against Senator Barack Obama.

In a single day, the committee paid for a $5 million advertising purchase by OnMessage, a media firm in Alexandria, Va., that represents Republican candidates. It was the fourth independent expenditure — a campaign finance technicality that allows the party to name Mr. Obama in the advertisements — made by the committee in the presidential race.

The money is paying for two television advertisements, including one, “The Chicago Way,” that came out last week. It talks about “shady politics” and names what it depicts as a rogue’s gallery of Obama acquaintances, including Antoin Rezko, the disgraced developer; William M. Daley, the brother of the Chicago mayor; and William Ayers, the university professor who was a member of the Weather Underground in the 1960s.

The advertisement is a close cousin of one from the McCain campaign titled “Chicago Machine” that makes the same points and uses many of the same people.

The second advertisement paid for with the $5 million is called “Trillions,” according to the Web site of OnMessage. Against a black backdrop and to the sound of a typewriter, the spot challenges a number of Mr. Obama’s economic proposals.

Federal Election Commission records show that the Republican committee has been fairly tight with its expenditures. It has $76 million in the bank, compared with $18 million for the Democratic National Committee.

The RNC is gearing up for another round of smut, smear and slag.