Influence Alley

You wouldn't ordinarily expect there to be too many similarities between House Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi them, but there is one significant one: Fundraising prowess. Reid Wilson looks at similarities in this week's magazine. Here's the upshot:

All told, Boehner raised more than $93 million during this election cycle, according to a memo circulating among his top aides. That included $43 million raised for committees he controls and another $50 million for candidates and the National Republican Congressional Committee. Boehner’s aides point out that the speaker transferred $20 million from his own accounts to the NRCC.

That’s on par with Pelosi’s pace—the Democratic leader raised $85 million for her party’s candidates this cycle, hitting a whopping 65 fundraisers in October—and almost double the $50 million that Boehner raised for Republican candidates during the 2010 cycle, when he was the minority leader. Boehner’s travels aren’t focused entirely on the good of the GOP. Just as Pelosi’s deep ties to her party’s financial benefactors helped her keep her job after the Democrats lost the House majority in 2010, Boehner is collecting chits he might need down the road if another ambitious Republican decides to challenge him for the speakership.

Subscribers can read more here.