DCCC Plans Big Ad Buy in NM, Elsewhere

According to an AP story published yesterday, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Commitee (DCCC) plans to spend at least $30 million in ad buys in approximately 24 congressional districts across the nation. One of those will be New Mexico's CD-1, where Dem Patricia Madrid is challenging incumbent Republican Heather Wilson:

Based on information available to date, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee intends to air ads for eight weeks in an attempt to defeat Rep. Heather Wilson of New Mexico.

The DCCC must operate independent of the candidate campaigns, and their advertising is not approved by the candidates. However, it can have a powerful impact on local races. For a change, the DCCC has more money than its Republican counterpart:

The DCCC reported this week it had $32 million in the bank as of June 30, compared with $18.4 at the same point two years ago. The NRCC reported slightly $26.5 million cash on hand as of June 30.

Democrats need a net change of 15 seats to take back the U.S. House of Representatives. With the DCCC planning to advertise heavily in more than two dozen districts, there appear to be enough competitive seats to allow for a possible Dem takeover of the House come November.

A reports that the campaigns of Democratic challengers are also raising funds at a record pace:

Specifically, Democrats dominate the list of the — those candidates who are seeking to unseat incumbents of the other party — according to a CQPolitics.com review.

Madrid 4th on House Challenger List for Fundraising
In CQ's chart listing 50 House challenger candidates that reported the most cash-on-hand as of June 30th, the campaign of New Mexico's Patricia Madrid came in fourth, with $1,258,845. In the second quarter of 2006 alone, the Madrid campaign raised $684,402. They've raised a recordbreaking total of $1.8 million, more than twice the amount Richard Romero had raised by the same point in his 2004 campaign and nearly four times more than he raised in 2002. And they've done it without the benefit of a $375,000 donation dump like the one Heather Wilson received from President Bush's Albuquerque fundraiser.

It seems clear we'll have enough money to compete in many races across the nation. The question is, will our candidates have the passion, conviction and courage to run the kinds of races we need to turn out large numbers of voters enthusiastic about supporting Dem candidates. Money alone can't bring victory, but it's a start.