Earlier this afternoon I noted that the Democratic Congresional Campaign Committee has about 17 times more money in the bank than its GOP counterpart, the National Republcian Congressional Committee. I turns out that that might not be the most embarrassing statistic to come out of the third quarter fundraising reports.

According to its latest filing with the Federal Election Commission, the NRCC had $1,598,505.61 in the bank as of September 30. The committee's debts total $3,850,000, meaning that the NRCC is actually in the red for $2,251,494.39.

For comparison's sake, take a look at the latest campaign filing by Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand, who was first elected last fall in the Republican leaning 20th district of New York. As of the end of September, Gillibrand reported having $1,631,852.36 in the bank and owing no debts or obligations. That means that one single freshman Democrat had more money on hand than the entire NRCC -- and significantly more money when debts and obligations are taken into account. I neither have the time nor the resources to look into this, but one would imagine that such a comparison is unprecedented, at least in recent history. So no wonder the Republican leadership in the House has been trying to shake up the leadership of the committee for some time.