The National Republican Congressional Committee, trailing its Democratic counterpart considerably in cash on hand, has secured an $8 million loan to spend on House races during the last few weeks of the campaign, according to sources.
The NRCC reported $14.4 million in cash on hand as of Aug. 31, compared to $54 million in the bank for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. As it did last cycle, the NRCC is procuring its loan from Wachovia Bank, sources confirmed.
Now, I guess this is legal because the loan will be paid with hard money donations later on. However, in the short term, this is effectively an $8 million donation to the NRCC from Wachovia at a time when Wachovia is supposedly in dire straits, about to be bought out by other banks, and will receive money from the government via the bailout. Does anyone see the attack ad in this move?
Campaigns and political parties that operate on hard money donations probably shouldn't be allowed to receive such large loans. I know that Democrats have done this in the past, too, so blame can be found on both sides. However, this still seems like a real violation of the spirit and purpose of campaign finance laws.
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