Another Sweet Sign of the Sinking GOP

Boy, have times changed. It seems like every election cycle has included plenty of stories about the massive GOP fund raising machine and the disparity between war chest totals on each side of the aisle. This year, however, most reports have the Dems leading the GOP in that all-important category. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) currently has about twenty three million dollars to spread around among candidates engaged in tough battles, while the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) has only twelve million.

The big difference has been cooperation from sitting senators. According to an article in this morning's Washington Times, many Republican senators who are not even up for reelection this year have massive war chests, and the NRSC wants them to transfer significant amounts to them for redistribution to other campaigns, specifically ones where the Republican candidates are looking at possible defeat. The article names names.

For example, Republican Sens. Richard C. Shelby of Alabama and Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas both have more than $9 million in their campaign accounts, and there is no limit to how much they can legally transfer to the NRSC. Mr. Shelby isn't up for re-election until 2010 and won his last election with 68 percent of the vote. His campaign account contains $11.6 million, but he has given $15,000 to the NRSC. If Democrats take over the Senate, Mr. Shelby will have to surrender his chairmanship of the banking committee.

This is just one more obvious indication that the Republicans are breaking down in all aspects of their game. Where once there was nearly universal cooperation, it's now every man for himself as the ship goes down. The finger pointing is already under way, but if you follow the rotted planks of that sinking ship, you'll find they lead right to the bridge and Captain Bush, a man who has definitely lost control of his crew.