House Races Across the Country: Time for the GOP to Scare Up Some Dollars

Membership Ticker

You come to Mother Jones for unique journalism, and we love doing it for you—especially at a moment like this. That's really it. That's the upshot of our fall fundraising drive, and we're hoping to raise $250,000 in a much shorter than normal three-week window, by November 5, so we can keep right on doing it. Please pitch in early to help us get there.

$250,000

You come to Mother Jones for unique journalism, and we love doing it for you. That's it. That's the upshot of our fall fundraising drive, and we're hoping to raise $250,000 in a shorter than normal three-week window so we can keep right on doing it.

Fight disinformation. Get a daily recap of the facts that matter. Sign up for the free Mother Jones newsletter.

A list of the 24 Democratic-held House seats that the Republican Party is targeting in ’08 was released today, and it provided the Campaign Finance Institute with everything it needed to go to town.

The folks there compared the fundraising and cash-on-hand for the supposedly weak Democratic incumbents and their Republican challengers. Take a look at these numbers.

Arizona 8
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D) – $1,317,357 on hand
Timothy Bee (R) – $161,246 on hand

California 11
Rep. Jerry McNerney (D) – $924,605 on hand
Dean Andal (R) – $471,190 on hand

Kentucky 3
Rep. John Yarmuth (D) – $659,231 on hand
Erwin Roberts (R) – $95,076 on hand

Texas 23
Rep. Ciro Rodriquez (D) – $661,224 on hand
Francisco “Quico” Canseco (R) – $45,430 on hand

These numbers, lopsided as they are, were more or less chosen at random. In no race does the Republican challenger have more money than the Dem incumbent; in only one, New Hampshire’s 1st, is it even close. Usually, the Democrat has anywhere from two to six times the cash on hand. The exception is Oregon’s 5th, where there is no incumbent.

Check out the full list here. And check out how much each of the major party organs have here. There is a serious problem for the GOP. It’s what I meant when I said John McCain has to rebuild the Death Star.