By Alexander Bolton
March 21, 2007
National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chairman John Ensign (R-Nev.) is pressing Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) to break tradition and steer Republican National Committee (RNC) funds to Senate races for the 2008 cycle.
Historically, the RNC has done little to help individual Senate candidates in presidential election years, although candidates in battleground states have reaped the collateral benefits of the RNC’s get-out-the-vote program.
But under Martinez’s stewardship, the RNC may come to NRSC’s aid in 2008.
The RNC last year spent heavily to protect Senate Republican incumbents, especially in Tennessee, Ohio and Missouri. Republicans lost races in two of those states, along with their majority. Next year could be another tough election for Senate Republicans as they must defend 21 seats, while Democrats only have to protect 12.
Ensign is hoping that the RNC can spend some of its expected wealth to help Republicans recapture the Senate, or at least spare them from losing more seats.
“It’s a team,” said Ensign, describing what he sees as the party committees’ shared objectives.
“The White House doesn’t want to be in the position that [President] Bush is in right now — the future White House,” he added, a reference to Democratic control of the legislative agenda and Democratic-run committee investigations of the administration.
“Some of the states we’re going to be playing in are swing states,” he added.
Indeed, several competitive races will take place in states that are expected to be presidential battlegrounds: Colorado, New Hampshire, Minnesota and New Mexico.
But some vulnerable Republican and Democratic senators reside in states that could be ignored during the general election campaign. They are Sens. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), John Warner (R-Va.), Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) and Mary Landrieu (D-La.).
Martinez said that Ensign frequently broaches the topic of RNC funds.
“We talk about it often,” Martinez said with a laugh. “He’s very aggressive and doing a great job as NRSC chairman.”
Martinez said that he does not know how much help the RNC can give to Senate Republicans and emphasized that any significant aid would break from past practice.
“Traditionally, in presidential years the RNC has not been of much help to either of the committees,” he said, referring to the NRSC and its House counterpart, the National Republican Congressional Committee. “My hope is that this year we can be of some help, that we can raise enough funds to take care of our presidential needs and also help Republican [Senate] candidates.
“Certainly that is the hope from colleagues,” he said. “I’m hopeful that we can be of more help, but it certainly has not been the tradition.”
Martinez’s influence over RNC spending decisions could give him leverage with colleagues over one of his top legislative priorities: immigration reform.
At the Senate Republican retreat in early February, Martinez, the Senate’s only Hispanic Republican, led the discussion on reform. He also forged a key compromise that allowed the Senate to pass comprehensive immigration legislation last year. But several of Martinez’s conservative Republican colleagues tried to block the bill because they believed it would implement overly permissive policies. It never became law because House Republican leaders also opposed it.
Martinez, however, said he would not link political funding to immigration reform.
“Not at all,” he said. “Absolutely not.”
In 2006, then-RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman set aside $60 million to spend on congressional races. The committee targeted nearly a third of its advertising budget in the fall on three Senate races in the hope of building a firewall to keep Republicans from losing control of the Senate. By contrast, Howard Dean, Democratic National Committee chairman, earmarked only $12 million for congressional races in 2006, drawing criticism from Democrats for the relatively paltry help even after the party captured the majority in both chambers.
Senate Republicans were glad to accept Mehlman’s money because the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee raised $32.5 million more than the NRSC, according to PoliticalMoneyLine, a website that tracks campaign finance. To avoid another big disparity in 2008, Ensign has asked his colleagues to raise a minimum of $118 million for the NRSC.
Aside from the question of sharing funds, both Ensign and Martinez said they plan to coordinate closely the operations of their committees.
“We’re having general conversations right now,” said Ensign.
As for the question of whether the RNC will pay for ads that beat up Democratic Senate candidates, as it did in 2006, Ensign said it is up to Martinez.
“It will be his decision,” he said.
Martinez, however, spread the responsibility more broadly.
“It’s not a decision that I would make personally, and it’s not a decision that is my own whim of what to do,” he said. “It’s driven by the budgetary needs of the RNC. That’s going to be a decision made collectively.
“It has to do with how much money is raised; it has to do with who is the presidential candidate and what they want to do.”
But Martinez acknowledged that he would have influence over how much to spend on Senate races.
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/ensign-lobbies-martinez-for-rnc-money-2007-03-20.html
