Contributions Help Democrats Narrow Funding Gap

National Democratic groups that will play key roles in next year’s presidential and congressional races have seen a surge in contributions, putting the party in a position much more competitive with Republicans.

An analysis by the nonpartisan Campaign Study Group showed that giving to the Democratic National Committee and Democratic congressional campaign organizations more than doubled in the first six months of this year, compared with the same period before the 1998 congressional contests and 1996 presidential race.

The Democratic groups this year received $24.1 million in so-called soft-money gifts through June 30, a 130% increase over their collections two years ago. The comparable GOP committees, meanwhile, saw their soft-money donations rise a more modest 26%, to $28.3 million.

Though Republicans still raised more, the big boost for the Democrats has overcome the significant advantage the GOP traditionally has enjoyed in soft-money contributions as the two parties gear up for the 2000 campaign.

Soft-money contributions are unregulated by the federal election law. As a result, individuals or groups can give large sums of money to the national parties and congressional campaign efforts, even while being limited to relatively small gifts for particular candidates. The committees, in turn, can use the money for party-building activities, which include television advertisements and voter-registration drives.

Dwight Morris, president of the Campaign Study Group, attributed the bounce in Democrats’ fund-raising to several factors. They include more active fund-raising by President Clinton and optimism that the party can regain control of the House of Representatives-- where Republicans hold only a slim five-vote majority.

The GOP-led drive to impeach Clinton also helped the Democrats rally support, said independent political analyst Stuart Rothenberg.

“Republican attacks on the president created an environment where Democrats could go to their constituents and tap that partisan fervor and argue that the Republican attacks are unfair,” he said.

The analysis of the soft-money contributions found that, by category of givers, financial-service interests topped the list for both Democrats and Republicans, accounting for about 15% of each party’s total.

These donations came as Congress debated legislation to break down Depression-era barriers that prevent banks, insurance companies and investment firms from entering each others’ businesses. Competing reform bills have passed the Senate and House, but the two chambers have yet to work out their differences.

Democrats counted unions and lawyers’ groups as among their big supporters--the two accounted for almost 20% of the party’s total. By contrast, money from the two groups represented only about 2% of the GOP funds.

Energy and mining interests and manufacturing groups were mainstays for Republicans, accounting for about 20% of the party’s total. Democrats garnered about 10% of their total from those interests.

Money from entertainment industry interests represented about 5% of the total for Democrats and slightly more than 2% for the Republicans.

Among individual corporate or union donors, AT&T; gave substantially to both parties. The telecommunications giant--engaged in a bitter legislative fight over access to high-speed cable lines--funneled $305,200 to the Democrats, $525,800 to the Republicans.

AT&T; ranked first among the GOP’s corporate or union givers, followed by the Philip Morris tobacco company ($375,461) and the National Rifle Assn. ($244,000).

Two unions ranked first and second for Democrats--the Communications Workers of America ($525,000) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees ($435,000). AT&T; was the third-largest contributor.

The new figures signal that both parties are off to faster fund-raising starts than in the months leading up to the 1996 presidential contest. That race has been lambasted for its emphasis on fund-raising, with parties combining to net $225 million in soft-money contributions. This year’s cycle could be even more of a scramble.

“I have every expectation that virtually every record in the book is going to be broken,” said Larry Makinson, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign fund-raising. “There’s just no end to the appeal for money in the 2000 election.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Following the Money

Top corporate/union donors to the three major Democratic and Republican national political committees, Jan. 1 through June 30 (no limits apply to these contributions).

Democrats

*--*

Communications Workers of America $525,000 American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees $435,000 AT&T; Corp. $305,200

*--*

Republicans

*--*

AT&T; Corp. $525,800 Philip Morris Companies Inc. $375,461 National Rifle Assn. of America $244,000

*--*

Source: Campaign Study Group