Cornyn: 'Evolving' 2010 Landscape Lets NRSC Expand Field
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said Monday that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's cash advantage in his bid for re-election in Nevada is not enough to improve his standing among voters in November.
"I doubt, even spending $10- or $20-million, people are going to change their minds about Harry Reid," Cornyn said at a press briefing on the 2010 midterm elections.
Down 18 seats and looking at a favorable political landscape this year, Cornyn's NRSC faces the fiscal reality of competing in the large number of states it will take to win back the Senate. Yet he dismisses the notion that the party won't have enough cash to do it.
While noting that he'd "always like to have more money than the other guy," GOP challengers in several states will be going up against deep-pocketed Democratic incumbents like Reid.
Despite a strong fundraising month in January, which brought the committee's cash-on-hand total to $10.65 million -- more than $2 million less than its Democratic counterpart -- Cornyn has admitted the NRSC will need financial assistance from the Republican National Committee in order to help under-funded candidates.
Still, Cornyn called the party's financial situation "evolving," as the dynamics of races around the country continue to change. One example is North Dakota, where Gov. John Hoeven now appears to have an open road to victory in November -- a crucial pick-up in the GOP's quest for control of the upper chamber.
When the NRSC was recruiting Hoeven last year -- before Sen. Byron Dorgan (D) announced his retirement in early January -- the committee had to assure him it would spend significant money on the race. With Dorgan gone, Cornyn said, "it looks like we may not have to spend anything."
The committee faces a somewhat similar situation in Indiana, where Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh's $13 million campaign account likely kept strong challengers like Rep. Mike Pence out of the race. However, Bayh announced last month -- just days before the candidate filing deadline -- that he would not seek re-election.
The NRSC would have been forced to spend big to help a challenger keep up with Bayh's massive coffers, taking away valuable resources for other states. Indiana remains a competitive state for both parties, but Bayh's likely replacement on the ballot -- Rep. Brad Ellsworth -- won't raise and spend the kind of money Bayh would have.
With Dorgan and Bayh gone, the NRSC has more flexibility to spend money on increasingly competitive states like California, Washington and Wisconsin -- two of which Republicans may need to win back control of the Senate.
Seeing the challenge the committee was facing in the months ahead, in April 2009 Cornyn admittedly jumped the gun by endorsing Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's bid for Senate. Crist's ability to raise money with a nation-wide network of donors proved too attractive to Cornyn, who hoped Crist's strong campaign could save the NRSC a ton of cash in the expensive Sunshine State.
While stating Monday that he felt "honor-bound" not to withdraw the endorsement, Cornyn said the committee would not spend any money during the primary, nor engage in any negative campaigning against Crist's primary opponent, Marco Rubio -- who now leads Crist in the polls.
Cornyn went so far as to say he believed Rubio would defeat Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek in the general election -- a clear sign he now cares little who wins the GOP primary.
However, another fundraising snag for the GOP is the number of primaries it's facing in competitive states. Along with Florida, multiple Republicans are vying for the nomination in California, Kentucky and New Hampshire. Primaries can be both costly and harmful to a candidate's general election prospects -- increasing the financial role the NRSC may need to play heading into November.
"My hope would be that all our nominees would come out of these primaries not bloodied and broke," he said.