Don't Diss the RNC

In 2010, third party groups stepped in to assist with GOP fundraising and campaigns. But don't write off the RNC as irrelevant just yet.

Does the Republican National Committee even matter anymore?

In the 2010 cycle, third party groups stepped in to assist with fundraising and ad campaigns. If they can do that, isn’t the RNC becoming increasingly irrelevant? This is an argument summed up by AllahPundit over at Hot Air:

[If Steele wins reelection] Republican outside groups are bound to start planning way ahead to pick up the slack in case the RNC can’t get its act together to fulfill its traditional fundraising and GOTV roles. No one cares about the RNC as an organization, only that its functions are being done and done well by some conservative outfit. If Steele’s reelected, it means that some other outfit or outfits will be pressured to step up. Inconvenient, but not fatal. I think.

However, I think there is some misunderstanding as to the unique advantages of the Republican National Committee – advantages that are impossible to replicate in third party efforts, and that thus make the RNC indispensible. Here are the three main advantages that I can see:

1. Coordination of Expenditures

The Republican National Committee is the only organization that can legally coordinate with campaigns at any level: county-level parties, gubernatorial campaigns, congressional campaigns, senatorial campaigns, everything.

The NRCC works with congressional campaigns, the NRSC works with senatorial campaigns, the RGA works with gubernatorial campaigns; but the RNC is the only one that can coordinate with campaigns at all levels, which gives them a massive advantage in terms of strategy and messaging.

2. Voter Files and Data; Getting Out the Vote

The massive scale at which the RNC operates allows it to take advantage of efficiencies in gathering data on voters. The RNC has voter files and volunteer lists that are unprecedented, and certainly unavailable to third party groups. This information is crucial to getting volunteers to knock on doors and to make phone calls, as well as identifying committed Republicans who would be targeted in Get Out the Vote (GOTV) efforts on Election Day.

Third parties could use consumer data to try and replicate the RNC’s information (i.e. this voter drives a Hummer, drinks bourbon and subscribes to a wrestling channel and so is likely to be Republican) but this information would be nowhere as accurate as the RNC’s, which has been built up over years and years of data collecting.

Victory operations – Get Out the Vote efforts – matter enormously. The RNC’s organizational efficiencies are crucial, and you couldn’t do it any other way. Without a well-functioning RNC, campaigns everywhere suffer.

3. 2012 Republican Convention

Finally, the RNC is in charge of the 2012 Republican Convention in Tampa Bay, Florida. This is a critical week for Republicans – this is the biggest opportunity to get their messaging out before the elections. Bungling the convention means bungling an enormous political opportunity.

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Third party groups raised a lot of money in 2010, and ran a lot of advertising campaigns, which was undoubtedly helpful to Republicans. But they just can’t compete in the long term with the exclusive advantages that the RNC should carry when effective.

Perhaps the effectiveness of the RNC is not the silver bullet for a presidential campaign cycle, but any list of the components that make up a winning presidential campaign has to include a well-functioning Republican National Committee.

The RNC is irreplaceable - whoever the next Republican National Committee Chair is will matter, and his or her actions will unquestionably play into who wins the presidential election in 2012.

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