"The unreleased official budget of the RNC reveals that the Republican Party's national governing body and premier fundraising apparatus begins the 2011-12 presidential election cycle more than $20 million in the hole.
'A record for any year in the past 30 years,' Maria Cino, a candidate for the RNC chairmanship and a former deputy transportation secretary, told The Washington Times.
The budget was approved by RNC Chairman Michael S. Steele's Budget Committee.
The document also reveals that the RNC will enter the 2012 presidential election year at least $10 million in arrears. 'That is also unheard of in 30 years for a presidential year — or for that matter, any congressional election year,' Ms. Cino said.
That figure also comes from the same budget approved by Maryland RNC member Louis Pope — Mr. Steele's hand-picked Budget Committee chairman and a supporter of Mr. Steele's Jan. 14 re-election bid.
'We've never had a debt that big, ever, going into a presidential election cycle,' former RNC General Counsel David Norcross told The Times."
Not good news for the GOP.
