WASHINGTON – National committees of the two major parties raised just over $1 billion between January 1, 2003 , and October 13, 2004 , according to a Federal Election Commission (FEC) compilation of information from the last reports submitted prior to election day. The parties reported spending $875.3 million during this period. Republican committees, including the Republican National Committee (RNC), the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) raised $554.7 million between January 1, 2003 and October 13, 2004 in federally permissible “hard money.” The Democratic National Committee (DNC), Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) raised $451.8 million. Overall, these hard money totals for both parties were greater than the combined hard and soft money raised in any prior campaign.

 The 2004 election cycle is the first in which national parties have been prohibited from receiving “soft money” as a result of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA). While the DNC and RNC raised substantially more this cycle than before, even counting soft money, both parties' Senatorial committees and the DCCC raised less in 2004 than they had in previous cycles when soft money is included. The following table shows “hard money” fundraising through 20 days before the election compared with both hard and soft money receipts from the same period in previous cycles.

   National Party Financial Activity Through 20 Days Before the General Election

                                                                 (millions of Dollars)

 Spending directly in support of federal candidates has also increased substantially in 2004. Democratic national party committees have reported a total of $105 million in independent expenditures, which advocate the election of specific candidates but are not coordinated with campaigns. The DNC reported independent expenditures of $79.4 million on presidential candidates through October 13. In addition, Democratic committees have spent a total of $19 million in expenditures on behalf of general election candidates. These are expenditures made by the party but coordinated with the campaigns. The law imposes limits on this spending for each candidate. Republican party committees at the national level have reported $43.6 million in independent expenditures and $11.9 million in coordinated expenditures. Spending on these activities had declined during the period when soft money activity was increasing for the parties. In addition, while the RNC reported making $5 million in independent expenditures, they have also reported $45.8 million in “generic media expenses” with which they have shared costs of broadcast ads with Bush-Cheney '04.

 Tables in this release include financial overviews for national and state/local committees of the two major parties for the 18 month period. Transfers from national to state parties are listed by state, as are national party proceeds from joint fundraising committees and transfers from candidate committees to the national Senatorial and Congressional committees.

Democratic Party Committee Financial Activity Through 20 Days Before the General Election  [EXCEL] [PDF]

Republican Party Committee Financial Activity Through 20 Days Before the General Election  [EXCEL] [PDF]

National Party Transfers to States  [EXCEL] [PDF]