RNC Raises $7M, $20M Debt Left

The Hill reports:

The Republican National Committee (RNC) reduced its debt by a little more than $1 million in March and raised $7 million in the last month of the first fundraising quarter.

The party reduced its debt from from $21 million to $19.8 million last month, it announced Tuesday.

The RNC also said it raised a total of $15.7 million during the first quarter of 2011 and emerged with $3.2 million cash on hand, up from $2.1 million in February.

The new figures show that the committee is gradually chipping away at its massive debt load left by former RNC chairman Michael Steele as the party gears up for the 2012 presidential campaign. The new chairman, Reince Priebus, began his tenure with $24 million in debt.