Poor, Poor NRSC

POOR, POOR NRSC.... The Senate Democratic leadership is asking, "How close can we get to 60 seats?" The Senate Republican leadership is asking, "Why isn't anyone giving us money?" Subscription-only Roll Call reports today:

In a stunning admission, National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Ensign (Nev.) on Friday morning blasted his GOP colleagues for not doing enough to help the committee financially, and he said he would have to scale back the NRSC's independent expenditure budget as a result. [...]For months Ensign has pushed his colleagues to cough up more funding to help eat away at Democrats' money advantage, and has repeatedly complained that Republicans in the Senate have taken a dangerously nonchalant approach to the 2008 cycle.

It sounds they're not expecting to do particularly well. In a statement, Ensign announced, "...I have had no choice but to decrease the total budget of our [Independent Expenditure] Unit."

Ensign, as it turns out, has reason to be annoyed. Through June, Republican senators had contributed $1.1 million to the NRSC. On the other side of the aisle, Democratic senators had chipped in nearly quintuple that number. All told, as of Aug. 1, the DSCC had nearly $43 million in the bank, while the NRSC's cash on hand totaled $25.4 million.

No wonder Ensign is taking the unusual step of chastising his Republican colleagues in a press release -- his party is poised to have a very bad cycle, and he's not anxious to shoulder the blame.

Noting the development, Kevin asks, "I wonder why no one wants to give Republicans any money this year?" I'm sure, if we put our minds to it, we could come up with a few reasons....