>Both Democratic campaign committees raised just over $1 million more than their Republican counterparts in May, with House Democrats extending their lead yet again over Republicans.

Through the end of May, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had a 7-1 financial advantage over the National Republican Congressional Committee.

The fundraising totals released Friday also showed the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee continued its almost 2-1 cash-on-hand advantage over the National Republican Senatorial Committee. The DSCC raised $5.92 million last month while the NRSC raised $4.89 million, according to numbers provided by the committees.

The DCCC topped off the month by raising $6.1 million. The committee spent $4.2 million and had $47.2 million in the bank with no debt. The NRCC raised $4.9 million in May and spent $5.1 million, leaving the committee with $6.7 in million cash on hand.

NRCC spokeswoman Julie Shutley said that some, but not all, of the $8 million raised for last week’s President’s Dinner contributed to the monthly total of money raised.

And after enduring a bad few months of headlines, the NRCC raised more money in May than the previous month. The NRCC has been dogged by an internal accounting scandal that could cost the committee up to $1 million.

Senate Democrats also had a large edge over Republicans, having almost twice their total of money in the bank for this November. The DSCC ended the month with $38.53 million in cash on hand, while the NRSC had $21.56 million in the bank.

However, Senate Democrats spent almost twice as much as the Republicans last month: The DSCC spent $4.95 million, while the NRSC spent only $2.7 million in May. Democrats attribute their high burn rate to investments made in their field operations across the country, which they believe will pay off in November.

In an e-mail to supporters Friday, DSCC Executive Director J.B. Poersch touted his committee’s political success and asked readers to help raise $2.25 million more before the financial quarter ends on June 30.

“We all know that big changes require big majorities,” Poersch wrote.

Despite a somewhat shaky month for Senate Republican candidates, NRSC spokeswoman Rebecca Fisher said the committee was happy with its fundraising in May.

“We are happy with the progress we are seeing on the fundraising front and expect it to continue to grow,” she said.

Fisher also pointed out that her committee’s fundraising numbers do not include last week’s President’s Dinner, which raised more than $13.5 million for the NRSC — exceeding the committee’s goal by $1.5 million for the evening.

The month of May and early weeks of June were particularly bad for Senate Republicans: Their preferred candidate against Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) did not have enough signatures to get on the ballot; a quirky, perennial candidate got the party’s nod against Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.); and an Independent candidate who would have taken votes away from the Democrat running against vulnerable Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) dropped out of the race.