GOP Faces Problems With State Organizations
Sen. John McCain must be pleased that his rivals -- Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton -- are engaged in what amounts to a verbal knife fight because it gives him time to try and rebuild some of the state GOP organizations that he'll need to win in the fall. And Politico.com writes that he'll have a lot of work on his hands, as the party is still trying to deal with the aftermath of its losses to Democrats in 2006.
"In some of the largest, smallest, reddest and bluest states in the nation, many state Republican organizations are still reeling in the aftermath of the devastating 2006 election cycle, raising questions about how much grassroots help the state parties will be able to deliver to presumptive GOP nominee John McCain," write David Paul Kuhn and Charles Mahtesian for the site.
Republican state parties in New York and California are losing members since 2006 faster than they can count them. "We are dying at the box office," California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said. "We are not filling the seats."
But there are also problems in key states for the fall election like New Hampshire, Arkansas, Kansas, Michigan and Alaska.
In New Hampshire, Democrats out fund raised Republicans 4-1 in 2007. Democratic challenger and former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen is leading GOP Senator John Sununu by double-digits in the latest polls.
"After twelve years of being in power, you tend to get fat and lazy, and in some cases arrogant with respect to your positions," said Saul Anuzis, chairman of the Michigan Republican party. "There is no doubt that we have had people who have gotten caught up in both illegal activities and immoral activities and none of that helps the party as a whole. If you go back to 2006 most people would agree that not only did we lose our brand, that we damaged our brand significantly. We are clearly rebuilding."
Meanwhile Politico also reports that election officials are expecting a record turnout in the fall. Some are predicting that turn out in their states could hit 80 percent. High turnout tends to favor Democrats, but not always. In 2004 turnout was 61 percent and President Bush won.
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Update: In a further look at problems facing Republicans, The Hill reports that "Republican senators with millions of dollars in their campaign accounts have given little or nothing to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), despite its desperate pleas for cash funds." Meanwhile, Democratic Senators have given Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, hundreds of thousands of dollars from their campaign accounts.
10:55 AM ET | 03-26-2008 | permalink
