Document Type
Article
Peer Reviewed
1
Publication Date
11-1991
Journal/Book/Conference Title
The Journal of Politics
Volume
53
Abstract
Since 1980 the amount of money raised by incumbent senators during the first four years of their terms has increased dramatically. A widely held belief is that having a large campaign account well before the election scares the strongest potential challengers from making the race. Findings presented here show that almost every senator now engages in extensive early money raising, but that those senators who have the biggest number of potentially strong opponents back home are the most active in this regard. Large sums of early money do not, however, produce weaker challengers. Instead, the strength of the challenger is usually dictated by the size of the pool of strong candidates; where the number is large, one of the better candidates will make the race. Early money raising does not threaten the competitiveness of Senate elections.
Published Article/Book Citation
The Journal of Politics, 53:4 (1991) pp. 1150-1164.
Rights
Copyright 1991 Southern Political Science Association. Used by permission. http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=JOP
URL
http://ir.uiowa.edu/polisci_pubs/92
