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An analysis of campaign-finance data proves that the House Financial Services Committee is an excellent place for vulnerable freshmen to raise money.
August 30 -
In 2008 the Democratic nominee raised far more money from Wall Street than John McCain. But for 2012, the financial industry is favoring Mitt Romney over the incumbent president.
August 29
WASHINGTON — First the Republicans won at the ballot box, and now they're winning at the money box.
After the GOP captured control of the House of Representatives in 2010, Rep. Spencer Bachus, the new chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, surged past his Democratic counterpart in campaign fund-raising during the first six months of this year.
Bachus raised $838,000 between January and July 2011, including contributions to both his reelection campaign and his leadership political action committee, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. Rep. Barney Frank, the Democratic chairman of the committee until January, raised $562,000 during the same period.
The fund-raising numbers represent a sharp reversal from the 2009-2010 election cycle, when Frank raised $4.05 million, compared to $2.16 million by Bachus.
In 2011, Bachus also received a larger percentage of his cash from the financial-services sector than Frank did. Of the contributions to Bachus that were categorized by industry by the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based nonprofit organization, 81% came from financial firms and their employees.
In comparison, 47% of Frank's categorized contributions in the first half of 2011 came from financial firms.
On the Senate Banking Committee, ranking Republican Richard Shelby raised far more than Democratic Chairman Tim Johnson.
Shelby raised $801,000, split between his reelection campaign and his leadership PAC. Johnson's campaign and leadership PAC raised a total of $270,000.
The biggest contributors to both Shelby and Johnson, by sector, included the insurance industry, securities and investment firms, and commercial banks.
Johnson's current term ends in 2014, while Shelby's term ends in 2016, which means that neither of them have an immediate personal need to raise campaign cash. Contributions to leadership PACs can be used to fund other candidates for elected office.
