Jockeying for position, Camp contributes $400K to NRCC

Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) contributed $400,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) on Tuesday, countering Rep. Wally Herger’s (R-Calif.) recent donation of $250,000.

Camp and Herger are each seeking to become the top Republican on the Ways and Means Committee in the next Congress, and donations to the NRCC and individual GOP campaigns will be a major factor in the Republican Steering Committee’s decision to appoint a replacement for Rep. Jim McCrery (R-La.).

{mosads}At the end of September, Herger had $597,000 cash on hand while Camp had $1.28 million. Camp also had $27,000 in his political action committee at the end of October.

McCrery, meanwhile, transferred $250,000 to the open-seat challenger fund, dedicated to backing candidates who are running for open seats.

The Camp-Herger race could benefit the NRCC greatly as the candidates continue to up the ante.

Asked whether the race would help drive fundraising to the NRCC, McCrery said, “Absolutely. That’s the natural order of things.”

McCrery had $961,000 cash on hand at the end of September and $323,000 in his political action committee at the end of October.

McCrery did not indicate how he will allocate the rest of his funds.

The GOP members’ donations have finally put the NRCC in the black.

The NRCC initially aimed to be out of debt by early spring or late summer. But at the end of the second quarter, it was still $4 million in the red.

“Yes, we are in the black as of today,” NRCC spokeswoman Julie Shutley said Tuesday. Checks from the individual campaign committees of Republican lawmakers began rolling in on Tuesday morning as a result of a fundraising push led by House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Rules Committee ranking member David Dreier (R-Calif.) aimed at getting member transfers from their personal accounts up to $3 million.

“It has a lot to do with the excitement surrounding the special elections,” Shutley said. “This makes for an early Christmas.”

In an interview, Herger said this is the beginning of more to come.

“This is good for the party,” Herger said. “The biggest issues in the country are issues that come before Ways and Means: tax equity, saving Social Security, saving Medicare, trade, and growing jobs.”

He added, “There’ll be a lot more coming … Dave Camp is a good friend; this is a friendly competition.”

Asked whether the $400,000 donation was attributable to the Ways and Means race, Camp noted that he had given $500,000 to the NRCC in 2006 as well.

“Competition is always good,” Camp said.

Boehner and Dreier contributed $505,000 and $500,000, respectively, from their campaign funds.

Other members who contributed during the push included Reps. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) and John Mica (R-Fla.), each of whom contributed $100,000.

Despite the recent windfall, Republicans still lag far behind their counterparts at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), who have $29.2 million cash on hand with a debt of around $2 million as of Oct. 31.

A spokesman for the DCCC indicated they were less than impressed.

“This is the Republicans’ definition of progress? Eleven months from the election and they finally have more cash on hand than debt?” said DCCC spokesman Doug Thornell. “It’s no wonder they have problems when their idea of progress is blind support for an unpopular president, a failure to rebuild their image after years of corruption and scandal, and an inability to carve out a message that consists of something other than ‘no.’ ”

NRCC Chairman Tom Cole (Okla.) last month told members at a closed-door meeting that donations to the campaign committee should be a major priority, according to sources in the room.