In an election season where Republican Rick Scott shattered primary spending records en route to winning his party’s gubernatorial nomination, an irony looms:
The Florida GOP is almost broke.
With a governor’s race, three Cabinet contests, a three-way U.S. Senate battle and a handful of congressional races in play this fall, Florida Republican Chairman John Thrasher is feverishly seeking to replenish GOP coffers at a major, post-primary fund-raising dinner next week featuring Scott, Senate nominee Marco Rubio, and Republican Governors Association Chairman Haley Barbour, the Mississippi governor.
But it’s also looking likely that Scott may be forced to dig into his wallet again, building on the $50 million he and his wife, Ann, spent on his primary campaign. With less than $54,000 in the state party’s federal campaign finance account, Republican congressional candidates also could be largely left on their own this fall.
“What do they say, `in for a dime, in for a dollar?'” Palm Beach County Republican Chairman Sid Dinerstein told the News Service of Florida. “Scott’s in. If he’s come this far, he’s going to do what he has to do.
“I think it’s the same with congressional candidates. They’ve got to run their own campaigns,” Dinerstein added.
Florida Republicans are looking to regroup – and reload, financially — Sept. 10 at Disney World. Thrasher and Scott have likened the party’s coming together after the hard-fought primary as a “merger.”
But Scott is clearly entering the partnership as the deeper pocket.
According to the latest finance reports filed in mid-August, the state Democratic and Republican parties were about even in fund-raising this summer. The Florida GOP raised $7.7 million and spent $6.1 million of that money from April 1 to Aug. 19, with Democrats collecting $7.7 million and spending $5.7 million.
But the GOP’s federal campaign account – which relies on contributions from individuals, not corporate contributions – has dwindled to $53,650. The party raised $468,500 over the summer, but spent $414,850, according to reports with the Federal Elections Commission.
The federal cash is critical for paying staff salaries, party overhead, get-out-the-vote efforts and voter registration drives. The Florida GOP has opened 30 field offices this year – with the number expected to climb to 50 offices soon. But much of the financing for this out-reach effort has come from the Republican National Committee, party officials acknowledge.
Florida Democrats have $1.6 million on hand in their federal account – a rare edge for a party usually vastly out-financed by Republicans.
“I never count them out,” Florida Democratic Chairman Karen Thurman said Thursday. “Today,I’ll go back to the office and continue to raise money.”
Because corporate “soft” dollars are barred, the individual, “hard” money that’s needed to finance the federal account is tough to raise quickly – adding even more urgency to the Florida Republican Party’s Disney fund-raiser next week, where tickets start at $150-per-person.
“The money is out there,” said Ed Kennedy, Broward County’s Republican state committeeman. “But the party’s gone through a lot and people haven’t given. In the end, politics isn’t emotional, it’s very pragmatic. And we want to win.”
Republican activists say the party is still reeling from the free-spending era of indicted former Chairman Jim Greer, who is accused of skimming at least $125,000 in campaign contributions and fees from the party. Greer is scheduled for trial in October.
Thrasher, Greer’s successor, also is a state senator barred by legislative rules from raising party contributions during the two-month spring legislative session. Former House Speaker Allan Bense, R-Panama City, who was expected to play a central fund-raising role, also has been battling health problems that have kept him from contacting donors.
Then there was the Scott-Bill McCollum primary. While Scott was self-financing his campaign and drawing heat from the GOP establishment, party leaders bet heavily on McCollum, pulling in millions of corporate dollars for the losing candidate.
Meanwhile, the federal account shrunk.
“I don’t know how much the party is going to be able to do,” said Jonathan Swift, spokesman for Republican congressional candidate Rep. Sandy Adams of Orlando, who is challenging Democratic U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas.
Kosmas and fellow Democratic U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, challenged by former House Speaker Dan Webster, R-Oviedo, are two Central Florida incumbents Republicans have targeted this year. Kosmas and Grayson, however, have raised $1.9 million, and $2.8 million, respectively, to just over $300,000 each for Adams and Grayson, who won primaries last month.
With the Republican Party potentially hamstrung, independent, 527 spending committees are likely to play a powerful role in the fall campaigns.
Adams already has drawn advertising help against Kosmas from the independent spending committee, Americans for Prosperity, financed by the billionaire Koch family, who support a range of right-leaning causes. Another organization, American Crossroads, which includes former George W. Bush political director Karl Rove as an adviser, has announced it will spend at least $10 million on get-out-the-vote drives in Florida and seven other states.
But even these efforts are designed chiefly to supplement – not replace – Republican Party support, activists said.
“There is a crucial, boots-on-the-ground function of mobilizing the grassroots and volunteers that parties must always organize,” said Jonathan Collegio, a spokesman for American Crossroads.
“Parties have to get people to the polls. But they need money to do that,” he acknowledged.
By John Kennedy
The News Service of Florida
