RNC burn rate hits a high note

There could be more trouble on the fundraising front for Republicans.

First, the NRCC turned in a less-than-stellar month yet again, and now the RNC is burning through cash -- big time.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) just announced it will report raising $6.3 million and having $8.7 million on hand. It's cash on hand at the end of October was $11.3 million. That would mean it spent $2.6 million more than it raised, or about $8.9 million.

It's not clear where the money went, but committees rarely spend that much more money than they bring in, even when they are paying down debt (of which the RNC has none). And the RNC is generally a pretty strong fundraising committee, which makes that kind of burn rate all the more astounding.

UPDATE 2:30 p.m.: Of course, Republicans will note that they won two governors races in November. Those races were held very early in the month (Nov. 3), though, so one wonders how many bills they had. The committee spent plenty in October on the races, which made up a big chunk its $16.7 million in total disbursements that month, compared to $13.4 million for the DNC. And Virginia was a done deal by Nov. 1.

Whatever Democrats spent, of course, Republicans can say that they won in New Jersey and Virginia. But they had to spend heavily to get to that point, going from $23.7 million cash on hand at the end of June to $8.7 million cash on hand now. That's $15 million down in a cycle where there are more than two dozen potentially competitive governor's races yet to play out.

Over that same span, the DNC looks as though it will have increased its cash on hand. But, again, Republicans won.