[link|http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/10/28/democrat_coffers_trail_gop_despite_fund_raising_surge/|Boston.com]

According to the parties' latest financial disclosure statements, Democratic Party committees raised more than the national GOP committees during the first 18 days of October.

Riding a wave of optimism about the party's chances of gaining seats in the House and Senate in the Nov. 7 elections, the Democrats' national reelection committees collected a total of $25.9 million in the period. The Republican committees raised $18.6 million during the same 18 days.

That is a huge shift, the companies that depend on lobbying are obviously trying to make up lost ground. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. The Republican K-Street project put a lot of pressure on companies to not only give more to Republicans but to give money only to Republicans and have only Republicans on their lobbying staff. Some companies that gave into that pressure may face a backlash now.

If we are really lucky it may even lead to a congress that is less tied to big money interests. The democrats have put a lot of emphasis on getting money from the public to make up for their losses among lobbyists. I expect big business and democrats in Congress will adjust quickly though.

Nevertheless, the Democrats' last minute fund-raising surge was not enough to overcome the Republicans' earlier fund-raising advantage. The three Republican Party committees had a total of $17 million more on hand than their Democratic counterparts as of Oct. 18, according to this week's financial reports.

Total corruption is still higher on the Republican side then the Democratic side though.

Jay