Weekly Update (11/30/07)

Senator Trent Lott Joins Resigning Republicans
This week, Trent Lott, Senator from Mississippi and minority whip, joined the growing list of Republican resignations from Congress. Lott will leave the Senate before the end of the year, which came as a surprise to many. It is speculated that he chose to resign so suddenly because, in doing so, he will avoid a new law which would prevent him from working as a lobbyist for an additional year.

Lott is the sixth Republican Senator to announce his retirement from this Congress, and in the House there have already been 17 Republican retirement announcements. Notably, Dennis Hastert, the former speaker of the House, formally resigned on Monday, and DAPAC candidate John Laesch will be running in a special election in Hastert's former district on a date to be determined by Illinois' governor.

The increasing number of Republican resignations adds to the hope for a historic Democratic victory in 2008. In the Senate, 23 Republican seats will be up for election, while only 12 seats currently held by Democrats are up for election. In the House, it is clear that many seats held by Republicans are trending Democratic, and DAPAC continues to target these seats and seek true progressive Democrats to take back our districts.

Former Congressman Henry Hyde died on Thursday. He ran the impeachment of Bill Clinton and he was my nemesis when I ran for Congress against him during the impeachment. -- Tom Cramer, President of DAPAC

Republicans, Struggling to Raise Money, Recruit Rich Candidates
In an historic change, Democrats are out-raising Republicans in Congressional campaigns, and Republicans are now changing their election strategies. In the most recent fundraising data from this cycle, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) had raised $56.6 million, while the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee (RCCC) had only raised $40.7 million. The most-telling data lies in the amounts of cash both organizations have on hand: the DCCC reported $29.2 million, while the RCCC had $2.5 million at its disposal.

Republicans are now actively recruiting independently wealthy candidates to make up for the fundraising weaknesses, and in a New York Times article, Republicans described this tactic as central to their plan for the 2008 election. These wealthy candidates include James Oberweis (R), an Illinois dairy magnate who is running in IL 14th, the same district as DAPAC-endorsed candidate John Laesch.

Although rich Republican candidates would seem to have an advantage, the results of the 2006 election show that this is not necessarily so. Of the ten candidates who spent the most amount of money from personal funds in their 2006 campaigns, only two actually won their races.