It's safe to say that the National Republican Congressional Committee is in a bit of chaos this morning. The NRCC is losing the money battle with its Democratic counterpart - by about $9 million in the latest campaign fund-raising cycle. And they're getting killed in the all important cash-on-hand battle - $22 million for the Democrats to $1.6 million for the Republicans. I believe that much of this has to do with the fact that the Republican base is fed up with the party, and won't start to give money to the cause as they have done in the past until the GOP cleans itself up. But if the party as a whole hasn't learned its lesson from 2006, it looks like it's starting to. The best way to get someone's attention is through money - or the lack of it.

Roll Call has an article up, Cole Pressured on NRCC Staff (sub. req.), that shows that House Minority Leader John Boehner has noticed the problems with fund-raising, and is starting to call people at the NRCC to account for it. The Politico also has a good article on the subject this morning, telling us that if Boehner forces the issue and cans the two people on the NRCC staff that he feels is most culpable for the NRCC's lack of success, its chairman Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma would resign in protest.

That might be the best outcome for all concerned. It appears as if Boehner is starting to realize that the Republican Party's problems are mostly internal, rather than external. GOP Congressional leadership should be looking at its membership and start pressuring problem incumbents to announce their intention now not to seek re-election, or face opposition in the primaries from the national party. That's probably not going to happen with Cole in charge of the NRCC.

The GOP needs to get new conservative candidates involved in about 40 to 50 Congressional races next year. That's the only way for the party to take advantage of the current extraordinarily high disapproval ratings for the Democratic led House. Only new candidates, without the old-boy network ties of many current GOP representatives, can make the argument that a vote for them is a vote for change - not more of the same. Perhaps this move by Boehner shows that he, indeed, is starting to "get" it.