The Last Hurrah? Soft Money and Issue Advocacy in the 2002 Congressional Elections

by Magleby, David B.; Monson, J. Quin

• ISBN13: 9780815754367
• ISBN10: 0815754361
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-04-08
• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Summary

The 2002 midterm elections were noteworthy U.S. congressional campaigns for many reasons. They marked the last national contests before implementation of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) and thus were expected by many to be the "last hurrah" for soft money. These midterm campaigns provided a window on the activity of parties, interest groups, and political consultants on the eve of BCRA, as they prepared to enter a new era of American elections.The results of Campaign 2002 were remarkable. As the party in power, the Republicans defied history by gaining seats in both houses of Congress, giving them a majority in the Senate. To some degree this resulted from the GOP's new emphasis on "ground war" voter mobilization. Another key was the unusually aggressive support of the sitting president, who leveraged his popularity to advance his party's candidates for Congress.Th e Last Hurrah? analyzes the role of soft money and issue advocacy in the 2002 battle for Congress. Having been granted access to a number of campaign operations across a broad array of groups, David Magleby, Quin Monson, and their colleagues monitored and documented a number of competitive races, including the key South Dakota and Missouri Senate contests. Each case study breaks down the campaign communication in a particular race, including devices such as advertising, get-out-the-vote drives, "soft money" expenditures, and the increasingly influential role of the national parties on local races. They also discuss the overall trends of the midterm election of 2002, paying particular attention to the impact of President Bush and his political operation in candidate recruitment, fundraising, and campaign visits.Magleby and Monson consider an important question typically overlooked. How do voters caught in the middle of a hotly contested race deal with --and react to --a barrage of television and radio ads, direct mail, unsolicited phone calls, and other campaign communications? They conclude with a look to the future, using the trends in 2002 to understand just how candidates, political parties, and interest groups might respond to the new campaign environment of BCRA.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
The Importance of Outside Money in the 2002 Congressional Elections	p. 1
Party Money in the 2002 Congressional Elections	p. 36
Interest-Group Electioneering in the 2002 Congressional Elections	p. 63
Get On TeleVision vs. Get On The Van: GOTV and the Ground War in 2002	p. 90
From Intensity to Tragedy: The Minnesota U.S. Senate Race	p. 117
Battle for the Bases: The Missouri U.S. Senate Race	p. 137
The More You Spend, the Less They Listen: The South Dakota U.S. Senate Race	p. 159
Strings Attached: Outside Money in Colorado's Seventh District	p. 180
Incumbent vs. Incumbent in Connecticut's Fifth District	p. 205
When Incumbents Clash, Fundamentals Matter: Pennsylvania Seventeen	p. 225
When Redistricting Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry: Utah's Second District	p. 241
The Consequences of Noncandidate Spending, with a Look to the Future	p. 258
Studying the Noncandidate Campaign: Case Study and Survey Methodology	p. 281
Interviews Conducted by CSED Researchers	p. 299
Contributors	p. 303
Index	p. 305
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