RNC Fundraising: Probably Enough to Save Steele

The Republican National Committee reports (in an e-mail blast) that it raised $17.6 million in the first quarter of the year: $5.8 million in January, $5.1 million in February, and $6.7 million in March. The last figure is important because it covers the period of new Chairman Michael Steele’s parade of real talk and gaffes, which got so bad that coup rumors surfaced and Steele himself backed away from doing so much media. As it happens, it was a decent month of fundraising.

The RNC has $23.9 million on hand, which includes money infused from the expired McCain-Palin campaign.