The National Republican Congressional Committee has a bit of a circular problem. The committee currently trails its Democratic counterpart by more than $27.6 million in cash-on-hand when debts and obligations are taken into account, a figure that instills little confidence in Republican members and thus provides little incentive for them to support the committee. But as a result of the lackluster backing of its own members, the NRCC is finding it terribly difficult to even get out of the red, let alone begin to catch up with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. And from the looks of it, the NRCC seems to still be having trouble getting House Republicans to cough up the dough.

House Republican leaders called on rank-and-file members Tuesday to step up their contributions to the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) or face life in the minority for many cycles to come.

During a closed-door meeting, NRCC Chairman Tom Cole (Okla.) told members that donations to the campaign committee should be a major priority, according to sources in the room.

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GOP leaders have a right to be concerned. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has collected $13.4 million from members who have transferred funds from their campaign coffers, while House GOP transfers to NRCC have totaled $6.1 million.

Obviously the $7.3 million more that the DCCC has raised from its members compared with the NRCC doesn't account for all of or even a majority of the committee's cash-on-hand advantage. Still, if the Republicans were able to make up their deficit in this area they would presuably at least be in the black rather than the red (the NRCC still has a net debt of more than $2.25 million). Too bad, then, that their leaderhsip doesn't seem to be doing a good of convincing its members of donating to the committee.