With the political landscape altered for at least the next two years as a result of the midterm elections, many citizens have started to take a closer look at exactly what strategies led to victory in the various contested seats throughout the country. While most point to dissatisfaction with the Bush regime as the greatest pitfall for most Republicans, some scholars have looked past the current elections to find trends that have held true in determining success or spelling out failure for political office hopefuls.
Jennifer Steen, a professor of political science at Boston College, has been investigating the impact of funds, and more specifically the source of these funds, on the outcome of a race. In her recently published book, Self-Financed Candidates in Congressional Elections, Steen discusses the success of candidates for political office who fund their own campaigns.
Statistics complied by Steen after years of research show that the election rate of non-incumbent candidates who provide at least $5 million for their own campaign is only 36.4 percent, compared to the 49.2 percent of candidates who are elected after raising at least $5 million through donations.
According to Steen, there are many reasons for this inherent disadvantage. One primary cause is the general lack of experience that such candidates tend to have.
"The majority of candidates who rely on personal funds have no experience in elected office, and many have very little experience in politics generally. … [They] have not had the chance to develop skills that are often necessary to wage a successful campaign," said Steen. "Practice makes perfect, as they say, and most self-financers have little practice in politics."
But Steen believes that self-financed candidates, even those without political experience, do not do a disservice to voters.
"More choices are usually better. Many respectable public servants have taken office without political experience," she said.
The means by which the candidates obtain the money for their campaign also influences the success of their campaign. While Steen agreed that funding levels are "an important determinant of election outcomes," she also holds that a candidate who is able to raise significant amounts of money may have been able to do so because of his or her appeal.
"Often a candidate who spends lots of money wins the election not so much because she has spent lots of money, but because she was a skilled, appealing candidate who was able to raise a lot of money," said Steen.
Self-financed candidates, on the other hand, have less motivation to appeal to voters early on since they do not need to solicit donations.
Steen said, "The interesting thing is that spending is much more productive when it involves raised funds [rather] than personal funds."
Steen also pointed out that while funding is crucial to a successful campaign, its vote-getting effect is limited.
"Campaign spending is limited to diminishing marginal returns. … In theory, at a certain point a candidate will have persuaded every persuadable voter and thereafter additional spending is pointless, perhaps even counter-productive," she said.
One concern that Steen voiced about the process of self-financing a campaign was the money that is lost in a failed bid.
"So much money spent in elections goes straight into political consultants' pockets. Self-funded candidates are more likely than others to use money on unnecessary expenses," she said.
When asked what a more effective use of an individual's money would be if he or she wished to further a cause, Steen replied, "If I was someone who had $16 million to spare, I would like to think that I would give it directly to a cause, such as a charity, or start my own foundation."
Steen was not surprised that self-funded candidates made no great showing during the recent midterms.
"I can't think of a recent example of a 'surprise' win by a self-financer [over an incumbent]," she said, "But I also can't think of a good example of a surprise win by a non-self-financer running against an incumbent."
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