If you’re a Republican in the minority in the House or Senate, the last few years have been one long, frustrating nightmare. The North Carolina legislature works on a winner-take-all system. The majority doesn’t rule. It dictates. There are no such things as filibusters or minority party rights. You lose the election and you have two options: Cozy up to Democrats or sit and watch.

But Republicans in the House and Senate have ignored one other option: Stop worrying about what goes on inside the legislature and start concentrating on what it means outside the legislature. If Republicans in the House and Senate want to stop the Democrats’ legislative juggernaut they’ve got to hold Democrats accountable where it hurts – with voters.

Governor Easley just spent $50,000 to rent a Mercedes limousine for a week in Italy. Mrs. Easley just got an $80,000 pay raise at N.C.S.U. And Democrats in the legislature haven’t done a thing about either. What would happen if the House or Senate Republican Caucus put an ad on TV saying, A week after Governor Easley spent $50,000 on a limousine in Italy – the Democrats voted to borrow a billion dollars to pay the state’s bills. What kind of sense does that make?

If Republicans want to be a force in the legislature the answer’s simple – politics. Democratic legislators have proven they’ll vote for almost anything as long as their constituents don’t know about it – but tell voters and he or she has to think twice.

But, oddly, House and Senate Republican leaders haven’t done that. Why? Because it costs money. And one thing Republican leaders don’t do is raise money. Marc Basnight is a fundraiser par excellence. Joe Hackney does a pretty good job too. But not House and Senate Republican leaders.

In the last three months Pat McCrory raised $1.1 million. That may not be a lot in the governor’s race. But it is a million dollars. Couldn’t House and Senate Republicans do the same thing? There are a lot of people in North Carolina who will give to Republicans. But they don’t just up and write checks. They have to be convinced the check matters.

Whoever leads House and Senate Republicans needs one priority and it’s not sitting and watching Marc Basnight and Joe Hackney pass bills: It’s raising money. It is setting up a fundraising mechanism that turns House and Senate Republicans into a political force.

Marc Basnight doesn’t have a printing press or a magic wand that makes money appear. He’s worked at it diligently for years and Republicans need to do the same thing. It is hard and grubby work. It’s ego-bruising. You get turned down a lot of times and making speeches in the legislature is a lot more fun. But Republican legislators have been living the alternative to raising money for a long time – and that’s been no picnic either.

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