Democrats' National Campaigns Rake in More Money Than GOP in August

Hoping against hope? Despite polls indicating big trouble in the midterms, the Democratic Party's national campaign committees out-raised and out-spent their Republican counterparts in August.

The Democratic National Committee raised $10.9 million last month, compared to the $7.9 million collected by the rival Republican National Committee, the Washington Post reported. And the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (known on Capitol Hill as the D-Triple-C) bested the comparable GOP committees by $1.7 million, collecting $8.3 million for U.S. House candidates. It's worth noting that the National Republican Congressional Committee had raised more than the DCCC in the previous four months.

There was similar late-summer success for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which received $7.4 million in contributions in August, compared to $6 million for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

The three Democratic committees also outspent the GOP organizations in August, according to Federal Election Commission filings, the Post said. The numbers do not take into account spending by third-party interest groups on behalf of candidates.

What all of this means beyond a one-month snapshot is unclear. But it amounts to at least a burst of good news for Democrats in the face of an evidently energized conservative electorate -- embodied by the Tea Party movement -- and predictions by some pundits that Republicans could win big in November and reclaim control of the House and possibly the Senate.

Money doesn't decide the outcome of races -- unless one candidate has a lopsided margin -- but it certainly helps get the message out.