By Chris Cillizza and Zachary A. Goldfarb
Sunday, October 8, 2006; A05

After months of negotiating, the leaders of the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee have struck a deal on the national party's spending strategy in its quest to capture control of the Senate in November.

DNC Chairman Howard Dean has agreed to put what one Democratic aide said was roughly $5 million into Senate races. Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chairman, welcomed the agreement, saying: "The DNC is helping us at a time we need it very much, and we appreciate Chairman Dean's efforts."

A few weeks ago, Dean struck a similar deal with Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.) to spend $12 million on voter-mobilization efforts this fall, with $2.4 million allotted to the most competitive House races.

The deals bring a measure of closure to a heated debate this year among Dean, Schumer and Emanuel over the party's spending strategy. Emanuel and Schumer have advocated spending resources on this year's races, when the national political climate favors substantial Democratic gains in both chambers. But Dean has said that the party's long-term health relies on spending money to develop party infrastructure across the country.

The DNC also intends to increase its contribution to the most competitive fall House campaigns by $2 million -- to a total of $4.4 million. "In this important election, as with every election, we can't take any vote for granted," said DNC spokeswoman Karen Finney.

Another prominent Democrat is boosting the Senate campaign committee's bank account this fall. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), cementing her reputation as her party's fundraiser in chief, recently gave $2 million to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee .

Clinton cut a $1 million check from her campaign kitty late last month -- a sum matched by Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (Mass.), Richard J. Durbin (Ill.) and Dianne Feinstein (Calif.). Clinton then gave another $1 million Wednesday, establishing herself as the single largest contributor to the DSCC this election cycle.

"This is very generous and couldn't come at a better time," Schumer said of the contribution.

The money comes from Clinton's massive stash of cash -- more than $22 million in late August. Since coming to the Senate in 2001, Clinton has raised $46 million for her reelection bid, hoping to scare away a big-name Republican challenger.

It worked. Former Yonkers mayor John Spencer is the GOP's sacrificial lamb this fall. An independent poll conducted last month showed Clinton ahead 58 percent to 29 percent.

But the fat bank account also allows her to lavish campaign funds on Democrats hoping to join her in the Senate in January -- a necessary move if she hopes to run for president in 2008. Clinton has also been making campaign stops, including in Virginia last week to support former Navy secretary James Webb's Senate bid. She is expected to visit Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida before Election Day.

"Senator Clinton is committed to doing all she can to help Democrats win back control of Congress," said Howard Wolfson, a spokesman for Clinton.

For all the talk of energized voters evicting incumbents in this year's congressional primaries, voter turnout reached a record low, according to a new study, which said that 15 percent of eligible voters went to the polls on primary day this year.

"People are becoming increasingly disaffected with both parties, on one level," said Curtis Gans, the director of American University's Center for the Study of the American Electorate, which issued the report. "And on another level, we have eroded the religion of civic duty in this country."

Only two races produced record high turnouts -- 12 percent in the Democratic Senate primary in Connecticut and 9 percent in Rhode Island's Republican Senate primary. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) was defeated by antiwar businessman Ned Lamont, though he is still in the race as an independent, and Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee (R-R.I.) headed off a tough challenge from conservative Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey.

Despite the low turnout in the primaries, Gans said the election on Nov. 7 could see substantial numbers of voters going to the polls.

"The general election is being driven by the emotional feelings about the presidency of George Bush," he said. "People turn out when they're angry mostly on a temporary basis."

As examples, he cited the 1966 midterm election, when voters punished Democrats for then-President Lyndon B. Johnson's stewardship of the Vietnam War; in 1982, when Republicans were slapped for economic recession; and in 1994, when Democrats were thwarted from their control of the House and Senate after the failure of President Bill Clinton's health-care initiative.

The Fix, Cillizza's political blog, appears at washingtonpost.com.