◼ The Republican National Committee under chairman Reince Priebus is once again raising substantial sums, especially from big donors. - Kimberley A. Strassel/Wall Street Journal
One year into his chairmanship of the Republican National Committee, Mr. Priebus will soon be announcing the fruits of his 2011 labors, and the news is that the GOP is (finally) back in the money game. The party may not have a nominee, but what it does have is an organization that looks ever more able to support one.
A source confides that the RNC landed $27 million in the fourth quarter, bringing its year-end fund-raising total to a sizable $87 million. Nearly $12 million was collected in December alone, the largest monthly sum in a non-election year since the early George W. Bush days. This also marks four out of the past five months that the RNC has beat its Democratic counterpart—despite President Obama's formidable fund-raising powers...
These figures suggest Republicans are regaining confidence in the RNC, and with that, a new enthusiasm for committing money to beat Mr. Obama. Heads of Super PACs report similar findings. Donors, they say, are less insistent than in 2010 on supporting only purist, tea-party candidates. The past two years have been sobering, and they are increasingly focused on the end prize of the White House and the Senate. They are writing checks, and big ones.
