at a cheap $1000/hr x 15hrs/day x 5 = $75,000/wk x 1200 stations rw talk radio is worth $18MIL/day or 390MIL$ /month or 4.68 BIL$/ year FREE for coordinated global warming denial, pro republican free market deregulation and wall st think tank propaganda, swiftboating, privatizing public education, passing voter suppression legislation, and the hate and fear used to get people to vote republican.

First of all, this money wasn't "to the Party", it was to the DCCC. Second of all, my money tends to go straight to the candidates themselves. A bit like voting, this avoids alot of basis of complaining. You can't complain that a candidate you support, spent the money you sent them, on their campaign.

I also do wonder where all of this record breaking money is coming from. My guess would be that at lot of lobbyists realize that there is a shift coming and they are trying to get on board the train early. We've seen this before where various industry PACs "hedge their bets" ahead of elections by giving more to the side they anticipate will be leading in the near future.

It'd take a bit of digging to sort through, not to mention comparing to past years to determine where the increases were.

I don't think that's included.

All contributions to Party Committees must be reported, and are subject to limits.

The money that goes to them (as opposed to individual candidates) goes to fund infrastructure through the state parties. The DCCC will funnel money through the state parties to pay expenses like staff salaries on a campaign (as a staffer, I'd rather be paid through the state party because individual campaigns 1099 you). The infrastructure expenses also go to pay for things like rent/utilities on various offices and maintenance and access to Vote Builder (keeping the voter file up to date benefits all Democrats on the ticket). They'll also buy mailers (ultimately about 50 cents each) and TV ads.

The DCCC also uses it to discourage primaries against incumbents. It's also been known to use it to discourage candidates they don't like from running at all. Rahm was the pinnacle of this. The DCCC has been as bad, if not worse, about NOT using a "50 state strategy" than the DNC.

Of course they're going to protect incumbents because they pay dues to the DCCC. I personally don't agree with primaries against Democratic incumbents unless there's a notable reason (for example, my senator Bob MEnendez was on trial last year and his approval ratings sunk. I'd rather see him ousted in a primary than in November by a Republican). I'd rather the limited resources be spent against Republicans than Democrats. Their Red To Blue list is small so far, but many of these races have primaries and they're staying out of them.

Rahm has been out of Congress for out of a decade now.

AS far as 50 state strategy-- like any organization, they're going to invest in candidates and districts that they feel are winnable. They're targeting 91 seats (so far) this year. A few states are absent from the list but most are represented. THese are all seats where the incumbent is a Republican. The list is on the last page.

https://dccc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/20171109_year-out-memo.pdf

ETA I used to feel how you do. And then I started working in politics. I've trained with the DCCC twice and I have a great appreciation for what goes on behind the scenes.

Through the Obama years, we saw the DSCC and the DCCC get involved in primaries. Whether an individual representative should have a primary challenger should really be made at the local/constituent level and the two "incumbent protection" organizations really need to stay out. I can't trust them to do that so I contribute directly to candidates.

to regain Representative Democracy.

As long as they need that money (both Party’s) will continue to act against our interests. I am not saying the Party’s are equivalent but that money buys all kinds of quid pro quo!

BUT how long before we blow it?

The enemy is the GOP, Trump, Russians, and US oligarchs.

Let's not fight among ourselves.

I don't want to hear Hillary or Bernie in the context of an argument.

Focus on the enemy foreign and domestic.

Oh, goody! Just what we needed. Another post casting doubt on Democrats when things are going well.

as in, not dumping it all into high production value slick negative campaign ads again, I'll be happy.

I vote straight-ticket democratic because it is the party of good government. But I never see that in the campaigns, I see it because I read the policy platforms and listen to the candidates.

It would be nice to see it in the campaigns, and it would be nice if I stopped hearing "what do Democrats really stand for anyway?", even after millions of dollars of advertising is blown.