Gingrich's biggest donors are having second thoughts.
(Newser) – Newt Gingrich’s vaunted money machine appears to be breaking down in the wake of his Meet the Press appearance, in which he called Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan “right-wing social engineering.” “The last 48 hours have called into question if Newt can even make it to July 4, because his fundraising is going to dry up,” one GOP strategist tells the Huffington Post. “No serious finance bundler is now going to step forward.”
Another Republican operative said he’d spoken to a Gingrich friend who’d been planning a fundraiser with 18 co-chairs. “He said like 13 of them dropped off within 24 hours of Meet the Press,” the operative said. Gingrich wasn’t helped by a report that he once owed Tiffany’s up to $500,000, an Iowa Republican calling him out, or even glitter. “Clearly if somebody was on the fence about whether they wanted to donate … the last four days they would have said, ‘Maybe I’ll just hold on,’” an ex-Gingrich adviser says.
I'd argue that the $500,000 Tiffany's bill actually has very little to do with it. It has more to do with the fact that Gingrich actually said -- and I can't believe I'm saying this -- something sane and reasonable to the press.
Opposing privatization and speaking in reasonable terms, terms which may even be interpreted as negotiable, is a direct contradiction to the current modus operandi of the Republican Party. Not only is doing so likely to net you a great deal of backlash among the lunatic, primary voting base, it's also more than likely that campaign donors will chose to donate to someone else. This proverbial rock and a hard place leaves the Republican Party in a situation where Crazy is the only option.
Meanwhile, the DNC raised twice as much money as the RNC during the month of April.
The DNC significantly outraised the RNC in April, "powered in part by millions of dollars from successful fund-raisers that featured President Obama," the New York Times reports.
Democrats raised $12.4 million in April, more than double the $6.1 million that Republicans took in over the same month.
Granted, most of the fundraising for the 2012 election is going to go to outside organizations, but it's always nice to be reminded that the RNC has been effectively neutered after being left to their own devices.
Or in other words -- Keep going! You're doing great!