The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised more than its Republican counterpart in April, pulling in about $3 million and ending last month with a little more than $4 million in the bank.

The National Republican Congressional Committee raised $2.23 million in April and will report $3.69 million in the bank at the end of last month.

House Democrats’ haul is significantly less than the more than $10 million that they raised in March, when the DCCC rallied its donors to help its efforts to win a special election in upstate New York.

The NRCC’s fundraising tally is also less than half of what the committee raised in March, when House Republicans held their annual fundraising dinner that they said raised more than $6 million for the committees.

Both committees appear to still be working off the debt incurred from the previous cycle. The DCCC is still $7.3 million in debt, a little less than the $8 million that it reported owing at the end of the previous month.

The NRCC also did not dig any further out of debt in April, reporting that it is $5 million in the hole — the same amount that it reported owing at the end of March.

The NRCC reported spending $1.76 million in April, while the DCCC reported spending almost $2.4 million in the same time period.

NRCC Names First Patriots’ of 2010 Cycle

The National Republican Congressional Committee this week named the first 10 Members on its “Patriot— program, which aims to help vulnerable or potentially vulnerable incumbents in the 2010 cycle.

The first 10 candidates who have signed onto the program were unveiled at a Wednesday briefing for political action committees. House Democrats have indicated that they plan to target every candidate on the list and, in many cases, have already run radio advertisements in their respective districts.

The list includes several GOP veterans, including Reps. Thaddeus McCotter (Mich.), Dan Lungren (Calif.), Ken Calvert (Calif.), Brian Bilbray (Calif.), Dave Reichert (Wash.) and Judy Biggert (Ill.). The NRCC also put a handful of freshmen on the list, including Reps. Anh “Joseph— Cao (La.), Erik Paulsen (Minn.), Leonard Lance (N.J.) and Chris Lee (N.Y.).

NRCC Communications Director Ken Spain emphasized that the Patriot program is aimed at keeping incumbents accountable for their own re-election.

“The fundamental difference between last cycle’s [Regain Our Majority Program] event and the new Patriot program can be defined in one word: accountability,— Spain said. “Those Members who have signed on the dotted line and exhibited progress on the campaign front will reap the benefits of this new NRCC program.—