Indiana's congressional delegation has become an unlikely focal point for the Republican Party's potential loss of control in Congress in spite of its traditionally red history. U.S. Representatives Chris Chocola, Mike Sodrel and John Hostettler are among the nation's most vulnerable Republicans. The Democrats need only 15 seats to regain control of the U.S. House and so Indiana has become an obvious battleground.

Unfortunately for Republicans, the Democrats' renewed optimism has helped empty their supporter's wallets and boost the Democrats' stash of campaign dollars. Although the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) once held a commanding fundraising lead, by the end of September the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) reported $36 million on hand, compared with $39 million for the NRCC.

In the Senate races, things look even worse for the GOP. The
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) has raised $23 million compared to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC)'s $12 million. Yet in spite of all of this, Republicans blessed with enormous war chests and commanding leads in their races aren't always sharing the wealth.

Indiana's elder statesman Sen. Dick Lugar, for example, had $4,011,244 cash on hand as of the July 15th reporting deadline. Earlier this week the New York Times reported he had transferred a mere $75,000 from that. And even as he sits on millions of dollars, daily one can find his advertisements on television. But why would Sen. Lugar go to all of these lengths when he has no challenger?

Lugar isn't alone in his unwillingness to help fellow Republicans in need. Republican Sens. Richard Shelby of Alabama and Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas both have more than $9 million in their campaign accounts. Lugar may have no opponent, but Shelby isn't even up for re-election this year. In spite of this, and a campaign account of $11.6 million, he's only given $15,000 to the NRSC. With Mr. Shelby's chairmanship of the banking committee on the line, why is he holding back?

Sen. Hutchison has roughly $9.5 million on hand and a commanding lead of 20 points in the polls, but she has given only $115,000 to the NRSC. That may sound like a lot, but it is little more than 1 percent of her campaign war chest.

Five democrats have transferred $1 million or more to the DSCC, but only one has done the same for the NRSC. It helps explain why the DSCC has $23 million compared to the NRSC's $12 million. With the Senate up for grabs, the comfortable Republicans' behavior is baffling.

If those like Sen. Lugar felt like the Senate races weren't in need of their help, one would at least think he would choose to help fellow Hoosier Republicans such as Sodrel, Chocola, and Hostettler.

Perhaps these comfortable candidates are simply greedy. Or worse, perhaps this is an indication of their own distaste for the GOP's direction and apathy toward it losing control of Congress.