Lott leads pack with $1.5M

Six months after his improbable return to the Senate Republican leadership, Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-Miss.) has raised about $1.5 million for his leadership political action committee (PAC), more than 12 times the sum raised by Minority
Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

Lott has also raised far more than Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and the highest-ranking Republican and Democratic leaders in the House.

{mosads}But it is Lott’s outdistancing of McConnell that will catch the eye of Senate observers watching their behind-the-scenes rivalry.  Although officially neutral in last year’s leadership race, McConnell is widely thought to have backed Sen. Lamar Alexander  (R-Tenn.) rather than Lott to become whip.

Lott’s victory capped a remarkable comeback. Four years earlier he resigned as majority leader in disgrace following revelations that he praised the 1948 presidential campaign of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), then a segregationist.

When he ran against Lott, Alexander emphasized that he did not have any ambition to become Republican leader and that McConnell would be able to work closely with him without having to look over his shoulder.

One former Senate Republican leadership aide said McConnell has been wary of Lott’s high media profile and his robust fundraising.

“I think it’s more McConnell worried about Lott than Lott worried about McConnell,” said the former aide. “Lott raises a lot of money and he’s active on TV, so I can see why McConnell might be worried … but I don’t think Lott harbors any desire to take McConnell’s job.”

Lott said he prefers to help Republican candidates through his leadership PAC instead of making phone calls to raise large contributions for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

“I don’t do Majority Makers,” he said in reference to the party committee’s high-dollar fundraising program. “I don’t like to make calls to ask for large contributions. I prefer smaller events and having a lot of them.

“I have a lot of money in my account and I plan to distribute it,” he added. Lott has given $110,000 to Republican candidates and political committees since January, according to a recent filing with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). McConnell, who raised only $113,000 during the first half of the year, gave $185,000 to candidates and political committees. He could do so because he began the year with $564,000 in his leadership account.

One reason that McConnell has raised significantly less through his PAC than Lott and other leaders is that he is facing reelection. Last month he sent a fundraising letter to supporters informing them that he faced the toughest reelection campaign of his career.

McConnell’s counterpart, Reid, raised $613,000 through his leadership PAC in the first six months of 2007. He gave $106,000 to help Democratic candidates, according to an FEC filing.

Senate Republican Conference Chairman Jon Kyl (Ariz.), the third-ranking Republican, raised $140,000 through his Senate Majority Fund and gave away $120,000.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), lawmakers with a longstanding rivalry, find themselves in a fundraising relationship similar to that of McConnell and Lott.

Hoyer raised and disbursed significantly more money through his leadership PAC than Pelosi did.  

Pelosi has raised $143,000 for her PAC to the Future leadership committee and donated $283,000 to Democratic candidates and committees so far this year.

In the same period, Hoyer raised $723,000 for his leadership committee, AMERIPAC, and doled out an eye-catching $425,000 to Democratic candidates and political committees.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) raised $558,000 and contributed $244,000 to Republicans. Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) raised $476,000 and gave away $255,000.

Hoyer’s aggressive fundraising comes after Pelosi supported Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) for majority leader. By giving more from his PAC than Pelosi, Hoyer underscores his strength and commitment to colleagues as a leader.

Republican colleagues said Lott’s fundraising would send a signal to the GOP conference. “He’s a real partisan player,”
Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) said of Lott. “Senators know what he is. He’s sending a signal that he intends to move ahead
and he is.”

Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), a deputy whip appointed by Lott, drew an analogy to Boehner, who also lost his position in the Republican leadership. Burr noted that Boehner used his leadership PAC to stage a return.

“You probably saw a very similar reaction from John Boehner,” said Burr. “The focus was on how he used the leadership PAC to demonstrate his level of commitment to the members. I think Lott probably perceives that his leadership PAC can be best served by making sure Republicans are reelected.”

Burr discounted the possibility of a rivalry between Lott and McConnell.

“I think that was an issue outsiders raised and was never an issue between the two of them,” he said.