Senate Democrats and House Republicans lag in caucus fundraising

Most of the targeted Oregon legislative campaigns are funded primarily through their respective caucuses, thus taking a closer look at caucus fundraising can provide insight on what we have to look forward to in the fall fights for the House and Senate.

In the Senate it appears that Majority Leader Richard Devlin is taking it easy with no Republican candidates filed in their swing seats. Having raised a mere $125,066 this year, the least amount of the four caucuses, some speculation has begun about removing Devlin from leadership and replacing him with someone with more leadership skills and experience coming in from the House caucus. Devlin's counterpart in the Senate, Republican Leader Ted Ferrioli is taking his role a bit more seriously coming in with the silver having raised $203,853 for this election year. Ferrioli may have no targeted candidates to support, but it's likely he is thinking ahead to 2010 when perhaps the blue wave running across Oregon has subsided.

We see the exact opposite taking place on the House side. Likely future Speaker and current Majority Leader Dave Hunt is taking no chances with his slim majority in the Oregon House. Bringing in $361,749 this year with an impressive $532,645 in the bank, House Democrats appear well prepared to protect their swing seats and maybe pick up one or two seats from the GOP. House Republican Leader Bruce Hanna has been less eager to rally the troops for the fall, raising only $195,721 this year and having $150,000 less in the bank than his closest caucus rival.

What does this mean for the upcoming fall elections? Democrats will very likely retain control of both chambers, but look for new leadership come next January.