You wanna talk about a guy who can flat raise money? (Sorry, I’ve been watching too much coverage of the upcoming NFL draft.) From the Politico:

Senate Republicans knew defending nearly twice as many seats as Democrats was going to make 2008 a tough year. But the fund raising figures released for the first quarter of 2008 show just how hard it’s going to be for vulnerable GOP senators to keep up with the Charles Schumer money machine.The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, chaired by Schumer (D-N.Y.), raised $16.9 million in the first quarter of this year and has $37.9 million cash on hand, more than double what the National Republican Senatorial Committee has in its bank account. By comparison, the NRSC has $17.3 million in cash on hand, and raised $11.7 million in the first quarter, which was better than expected.

The cash advantage for Democrats _ and the lack of vulnerable Democratic incumbents _ will give Schumer the opportunity to plunge millions into targeted races in an attempt to unseat GOP incumbents in Minnesota, Oregon, New Hampshire and Maine. In the closely contested open Senate seats in Colorado, Virginia, New Mexico, the Democratic candidates out raised Republicans.

Related posts:

1. Beating a dead horse
2. Congressional fundraising at the national level
3. First quarter fundraising totals for NRCC and DCCC
4. The best defense is a good offense
5. How sweet it isn’t