The incoming chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) will stop taking money from political action committees for her personal campaign account, her spokesman said Thursday.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Florida congresswoman tapped by President Obama to next lead the DNC, swore off PAC money in order to be consistent with DNC rules against PAC contributions.
The Sunlight Foundation first reported that Wasserman Schultz's last fundraiser from which she'll accept PAC money was Monday, coinciding with the end of this month.
It's not clear what the shift means for Wasserman Schultz's own PAC, the "Democrats Win Seats" (after her initials, "DWS") PAC, which itself relies largely on contributions from other PACs in order to help Democratic campaigns. The DWS PAC took in more than $66,000 in donations last month alone, according to its Federal Election Commission (FEC) filing, most of which came from PACs.
The DNC issued a rule barring donations from PACs shortly after Obama won the presidential nomination in 2008, a move praised by watchdogs as a step toward transparency and diminishing lobbyist influence.
The pivot by Wasserman Schultz also underscores the dual functions she'll serve for the next year and a half or so, both as a congresswoman who'll have to fight and win her own reelection battle (though she represents a relatively safe district), while serving in a higher-profile capacity as leader of the DNC.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) might sponsor a series of officially sanctioned debates for the party's 2012 presidential candidates, Chairman Reince Priebus said Tuesday.
Preibus acknowledged that the RNC remains in the process of contemplating sponsoring a series of official debates, which earlier reports had indicated the party was considering.
"The RNC is seeking to either sponsor, sanction, or put a Republican stamp on a limited number of debates," Priebus said at a breakfast sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor.
Priebus said he could envision a series of monthly debates, beginning in the summer, for candidates who have entered the presidential race. These official forums wouldn't limit candidates from participating in any other debates.
The newly installed RNC chairman likened the party's plans to the officially sanctioned debates the Democratic National Committee (DNC) approved during the 2008 cycle.
"There isn't really anything more than that," he said.
But Priebus didn't address concerns about the debates and their format, namely whether the moderators would be selected by GOP officials or whether media outlets would have to pay for access to the debates.
Priebus did express concern that too many debates could erupt, as he said had happened in the 2008 campaign, leading to fatigue among voters by the time the early 2012 primaries arrive. The RNC-sanctioned debates, he said, would allow for a more organized pace to public candidate opportunities.
Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus said that concerns within his party about President Obama's birthplace don't concern him, because he has more important things to worry about.
Priebus, who won the chairman's job in January, dismissed conspiracy theories that Obama wasn't born in the United States, explaining that he has "no reason not to believe the president wasn't born in Hawaii."
"It doesn't worry me," Priebus said at a Tuesday breakfast with reporters sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. "But the reality is that I'm chairman of the RNC ... In regard to this birther issue, I've got better things to worry about."
Real estate mogul Donald Trump, who's considering running for president next year, has been a vocal proponent of the "birther" theory, which questions Obama's birthplace.
The Obama campaign released the president's birth certificate during the 2008 election, showing Obama was born in Hawaii. His birth certificate is on file with the state's Department of Health.
Still, doubts about the president have lingered, driven by vocal skepticism by Republicans like Trump, as well as others who are less definitive in expressing their belief that Obama was, in fact, born in Hawaii.
Priebus said he didn't believe that voicing birther opinions moves votes for Republican candidates, but added that he didn't feel like it was his place to dictate to candidates what they can and can't say on the trail.
"I don't think that it's an issue that moves voters," he said.
The Democratic Governors Association (DGA) is raising funds off efforts by opponents of President Obama who have questioned his place of birth.
The DGA sent out a fundraising appeal to supporters on Friday, referencing so-called birther bills being considered by some state legislatures.
"Republican governors, eager to score political points, keep these myths alive by refusing to unequivocally say that birtherism isn’t true and that they won’t sign any bills trying to undermine our president," reads the appeal from DGA Executive Director Colm O'Comartun. "Since they won’t act, it’s up to us to make sure they know the American people are watching."
The re-emergence of birtherism has been fueled by the recent start of the 2012 presidential campaign season, but the state bills helped contribute to its rise.
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) recently vetoed a birther bill, but others are advancing in Louisiana and Indiana. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), has indicated he would sign one if it reached his desk, the DGA noted.
The birther bills would require presidential candidates to provide proof of their citizenship in order to be included on that state's ballot.
Obama's opponents continue to question his citizenship — and thus his eligibility to serve as president — even though he released a copy of his birth certificate during the 2008 campaign to prove he was born in Hawaii.
The birther issue appears to be gaining steam with Republicans: 45 percent believe he was born outside the U.S., according to a recent poll.
Republicans are fundraising off Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) budget proposal as Democrats are looking to put the GOP on the defensive over it.
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) on Tuesday circulated a fundraising appeal to supporters from House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) that praises the budget, which would cut $5.8 trillion over a decade. The pitch accuses Democrats of being unserious about addressing the nation's debt and deficit troubles.
"They believe it serves their political interests to try to demonize our proposals to cut spending and preserve critical health and retirement programs for future generations," Boehner wrote of Democrats.
Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman, also sent out a fundraising appeal to his Prosperity PAC supporters.
Republicans are trying to turn the issue into a political winner after weathering attacks from Democrats for nearly a week.
Democrats were incensed over the budget, accusing Republicans of using it to gut Medicare and Medicaid. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel (N.Y.) predicted last week that his party would retake control of the House because of voter pushback over the proposal.
The DCCC has also launched an ad campaign targeting 25 House Republicans for supporting Ryan's budget. Democrats would need a net gain of 25 seats in 2012 to take back the House. The committee also put out a 30-second ad humorously suggesting that under Ryan's plan, seniors would have to mow lawns or work as strippers to earn healthcare money.
"Last Friday, 235 of my Republican colleagues in the House joined me in supporting this cause and voted to pass my 2012 budget proposal. Now, they’re under attack from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — Nancy Pelosi’s political machine," reads Ryan's email.
"The fact is we can’t afford all of the political nonsense the Democrats are generating. We have a dire financial crisis awaiting us, but we can get ourselves back on the path to prosperity if we act now. My fellow House Republicans took bold action and are now paying the price."
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has taken a major step toward paying down the debt left over from a brutal 2010 election cycle and outraised its Republican counterpart over the first three months of the year.
The DCCC announced Thursday that it raised $19.6 million during the first quarter and has cut its debt to $8 million. The National Republican Congressional Committee wasn't far behind, raising $18.1 million in the first quarter, but also still has $8 million in debt still on the books.
After raising just over $5 million in the month of February, the DCCC reported $17.3 million in debt.
The one major difference -- the NRCC reported nearly twice the cash on hand of the DCCC at the end of the first quarter with $9 million in the bank, compared to $4.6 million for the DCCC. The NRCC also raised $10.2 million in March.
The DCCC raised more than $1.2 million online in the month of March, and a fundraising appeal pegged to capitalize on the potential for a government shutdown netted the committee its second best day of online fundraising in its history on April 8. That haul, however, came after the books closed on the first quarter.
The DCCC's first-quarter total comes after outraising its Republican counterpart in both January and February. In February, the DCCC raised $5.2 million to the NRCC's $4.9 million, and in January, the DCCC raised $4.4 million to the NRCC's $3 million.
Democrats need a net gain of 25 seats to take back the House majority in 2012.
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