Self-Financed Candidates in Congressional Elections

Self-Financed Candidates in Congressional Elections

CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES Alan Wolfe, Series Editor Contemporary Political and Social Issues provides a forum in which social scientists and seasoned observers of the political scene use their expertise to comment on issues of contemporary importance in American politics, including immigration, affirmative action, religious conflict, gay rights, welfare reform, and globalization. Putting Faith in Partnerships:Welfare-to-Work in Four Cities, by Stephen V. Monsma The New Imperial Presidency: Renewing Presidential Power after Watergate, by Andrew Rudalevige Self-Financed Candidates in Congressional Elections, by Jennifer A. Steen

Self-Financed Candidates in Congressional Elections JENNIFER A. STEEN THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN PRESS ANN ARBOR

Copyright by the University of Michigan 2006 All rights reserved Published in the United States of America by The University of Michigan Press Manufactured in the United States of America Printed on acid-free paper 2009 2008 2007 2006 4 3 2 1 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher. A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Steen, Jennifer A. Self-financed candidates in congressional elections / Jennifer A. Steen. p. cm. (Contemporary political and social issues) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-472-09903-0 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-472-09903-5 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-13: 978-0-472-06903-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-472-06903-9 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Self-financed political candidates United States. 2. Campaign funds United States. 3. Campaign funds United States Statistics. 4. United States. Congress Elections. I. Title. II. Series. JK1991.S72 2006 324.7 8 0973 dc22 2005022348

Contents Acknowledgments vii 1. Introduction 1 2. The Distribution of Self-Financing: Candidate Quality,Timing, and the Local Context 19 3. How Self-Financing Shapes the Field of Competition 47 4. How Much Bang in a Self-Financed Buck? 93 5. Self-Financing and the Electoral Connection 123 6. Democracy, Campaign Reform, and Politics 147 Appendixes 163 References 183 Index 189

Acknowledgments I WOULD LIKE TO ACKNOWLEDGE a few individuals and organizations who supported my campaign to become a published author. Like any good politician let me first acknowledge my campaign contributors. My grandparents, David and Merna Scott, generously picked up the bulk of the tab for my graduate education, and I am sorry they did not live to see me earn my Ph.D. and turn my dissertation into this book. I am also grateful for dissertation fellowships from the Political Science department at the University of California, Berkeley, and for a research fellowship from the Governmental Studies department at the Brookings Institution. The Institute of Governmental Studies at Berkeley gave me several grants to fund data collection and travel between Berkeley and Washington,D.C. At Boston College I received funding for data collection and research assistance to update the manuscript. My campaign also benefited from a large network of volunteers.those who read and commented on iterations of the entire manuscript include Henry Brady, Bruce Cain, Marc Landy, Nelson Polsby, Susan Rasky, and Kay Schlozman. I must also thank Bruce and Nelson for throwing the weight of the Institute of Governmental Studies behind me. IGS was my home on the Berkeley campus, where I enjoyed office space, computer equipment, a wonderful library, and several opportunities to present pieces of my research. Many other individuals have provided helpful comments on sections of the manuscript, including Paul Herrnson, Gary Jacobson, Michael Malbin, and Tom Mann, as well as the anonymous reviewers for the University of Michigan Press. Student interns from Boston College helped me finish the book and learned about political science research while doing so. Elizabeth

viii Acknowledgments Kabacinski and Lauren Daniel were the enthusiastic and resourceful BC undergraduates who helped me track down key examples and citations. Tobin Craig, a doctoral student at BC, was especially helpful in sifting through the Congressional Record. Caitlin O Donnell and Richard Martin also contributed to the data collection. On the campaign trail I made several public appearances where seminar participants and conference attendees often offered fresh ideas. I thank my hosts at Boston College (where my future colleagues were especially engaging), the University of Maryland, Wellesley College, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU, the Brookings Institution, and UC Berkeley. It may be a stretch to liken the University of Michigan Press to national party headquarters, but I m enjoying the campaign metaphor too much not to! Many thanks to Alan Wolfe, editor of the series in which this book appears and my colleague at BC, who recruited me to run on the UM Press line. I am also grateful to Boss Jim Reische, particularly for his patience. Finally, I would especially like to thank the two gentlemen of my kitchen cabinet. Raymond E. Wolfinger, my dissertation adviser, commented on multiple drafts of this manuscript and its component chapters. I am grateful for the careful attention he gave my work. His criticism was constructive (and copious) and significantly improved the manuscript. Jonathan GS Koppell has contributed in innumerable ways to this project, beginning in winter 1997 when he said to me, You know, that could be a good dissertation topic. Then my graduate-school classmate and now my husband, Jonathan has since become the world s number-two expert on self-financed candidates in congressional elections from 1992 to 2000. I could not have done this without him. All remaining errors or shortcomings are, of course, my own responsibility.