Democratic National Committee

THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL Committee (DNC) did not become a permanent organization until recently. The DNC was created in 1848, at the party's national convention. At first, it only operated in presidential election years, when it was instrumental in the mechanisms for the nomination of the Democratic candidate for president. In the mid-1920s, the DNC established a year-round national party headquarters close to the capitol. Its establishment moved the party away from state-centered, relatively autonomous organizations, to a more centralized structure. Although the DNC is now centralized, the Republican National Committee (RNC) is much more centralized and hierarchical than the DNC. Even after the DNC became a permanent organization, the state parties continued to wield the most power in much of party decision-making. The DNC was frequently required to “go begging” to the wealthier state [Page 172]parties for money to maintain its operations. For most of the DNC's history, its main purpose was to transfer money from wealthy state parties to poorer state parties with tight races.

The DNC receives its current funding through a few dedicated and reliable upper-income donors. Its role in campaigns has expanded exponentially in the past few decades. The national party still focuses primarily on presidential races, but it also aids federal legislative and select state races. The Democratic National Committee is similar to a campaign consulting firm for Democratic candidates' campaigns and maintains a large staff for this purpose. It provides services such as issue research, polling, voter exploration, fundraising, and various types of training and consulting. The role of the national committee is increasing as the importance of media outreach and polling increases, two areas in which the committee aids many Democratic candidates. A major method of aiding candidates is through issue-advocacy and ads that attack the opposing candidate. In 2000, the DNC actually spent more on television advertisements, on average, than the amount spent by individual candidates. The committee also contributes to the Democratic presidential candidate through coordinated expenditures on services such as polling, research, advertising, or supplies. The DNC provides the candidate with strategic and legal advice, in addition to providing assistance with general public relations.

Fundraising is arguably the DNC's most important responsibility. From 1976 to 2000, the committee increased its hard money donation share per election cycle from $15 million to $212.9 million. The DNC is still often behind the Republican National Committee (RNC) in fundraising. This shortfall allows the RNC to provide its candidates with more campaign assistance, but the fundraising gap is small. The DNC does contribute some donations directly to campaigns, but this is highly regulated by campaign finance laws, so party donations to a campaign are usually minimal. Most of the contributions the DNC receives are under $100 and are from direct mail donations, web appeals, or telemarketing. The internet and email are quickly becoming major sources of the committee's donations. For larger contributions, the DNC hosts fundraising events such as dinners and receptions.

The function of the Democratic National Committee changes, depending on the incumbent president's party. When a Democratic president is in office, the DNC spends most of its time working with the president. Regardless of the president's party, the DNC is most active in election years. One of the DNC's most important jobs is organizing and coordinating the Democratic National Nominating Convention in presidential election years. Despite the Democratic National Committee's importance in the organization of the convention, the committee has relatively little to do with the actual selection of the Democratic presidential candidate.

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