There’s been a lot of media coverage this morning over this Politico story concerning a confidential 72 page powerpoint presentation of the RNC at a recent meeting. The lead has been about how to motivate small donors to give: “The Republican National Committee plans to raise money this election cycle through an aggressive campaign capitalizing on ‘fear’ of President Barack Obama and a promise to ‘save the country from trending toward socialism.’ The strategy was detailed in a confidential party fundraising presentation, obtained by POLITICO, which also outlines how ‘ego-driven’ wealthy donors can be tapped with offers of access and ‘tchochkes.'” (I eagerly await the FEC’s expected rulemaking on tchotchkes).
But equally interesting to me is the last part of the presentation, pages 59-72, which is the legal briefing to the leadership. There’s a slide explaining the RNC take on Citizens United, which is quite interesting. But of most interest is the last slide, on the RNC v. FEC litigation challenging the “soft money” ban on political parties. (The ban was upheld against a facial challenge by the Supreme Court in McConnell v. FEC, but this is an “as applied” challenge—the same kind of strategy pursued in the WRTL and CU cases to get McConnell overruled as to its issue advocacy holdings).
The slide suggests that the RNC expects a ruling soon, and if it loses it expects to pursue immediate expedited review in the Supreme Court. Here is the slide: