"It's Money That Matters": Campaign Expenditures and State Legislative Primaries

Breaux, David A.; Gierzynski, Anthony

doi:10.2307/440106

Cited by 35 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 17 publications

(1 reference statement)

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“…6 We included the number of candidates in each race because this influences the number of votes garnered by candidates (Holbrook andTidmarch 1993, Krebs 1998). In addition, district/state competitiveness helps determine the electoral success of both incumbents and challengers (see Breaux and Gierzynski 1991, Welch and Hibbing 1997, Koetzle 1998. District/state competitiveness was measured by subtracting the total number of votes attained by the loser of the previous election from the total number of votes attained by the winner in each respective district/state.…”

Section: Data Measurement and Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Electronic Grassroots: Does Online Campaigning Work?

Wagner

Gainous²

2009

The Journal of Legislative Studies

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This research explores the implications of the growing use of the Internet to campaign and win elections in the United States. After exploring the historic assumptions and motivations behind the use of the Internet to campaign, the authors use election data from the 2006 midterm congressional elections and webpage ranking data from the leading web-based ranking service to assess the impact of Internet campaigning. The findings indicate that web presence is a significant predictor of the total votes candidates garnered in the 2006 congressional elections, even when controlling for variables such as funding, incumbency and experience. Further, the findings also suggest that, generally, Democrats had a stronger web presence than Republicans and this increased presence contributed to their success in the election. This research suggests that potential candidates need to be particularly concerned about the success of their websites and their popularity within the Internet community when running for office.In this study, we focus on the increasing changes to the US electoral system caused by the interaction between congressional candidates and voters through the use of the Internet. In particular, we assess the effectiveness of using the interactive medium of the Internet to campaign for office and ultimately reach and motivate voters. After exploring the historic assumptions and motivations behind the use of the Internet to campaign, we use election data from the 2006 midterm US congressional elections and webpage ranking data from the leading web-based ranking service to do so. The findings presented suggest that Internet campaigning is no longer just a desirable accessory to the national campaign, but, in fact, a significant predictor of the number of votes candidates running for Congress receive. Specifically, the results indicate that candidates' web presence influenced the proportion of the vote they got. We found some variation across parties as the Democrats appear to have received much of the initial benefit of this effect. Politics, Campaigning, and the Internet: Looking BackPredicting the nature of the impact of new technology such as the Internet on the American political system is difficult, though scholars have tried, typically in broad strokes and mostly with a positive normative view of technology

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Section: Data Measurement and Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Electronic Grassroots: Does Online Campaigning Work?

Wagner

Gainous²

2009

The Journal of Legislative Studies

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“…One study places the value of incumbency in general elections for governor at nearly 5 percent, independent of campaign spending (Partin 1999). The value of incumbency in primaries is likely to be even higher, given the greater disparity between governors and party challengers in name recognition and the lack of party cues (Breaux and Gierzynski 1991). As noted earlier, only five elected incumbents lost a primary from 1980 to 2000.…”

Section: Modeling the Vote In Gubernatorial Primariesmentioning

confidence: 97%

Not All Money Is Equal: The Differential Effect of Spending by Incumbents and Challengers in Gubernatorial Primaries

Bardwell

2003

State Politics Policy Q.

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What is the impact of campaign spending on the vote in gubernatorial primaries? Is spending by challengers and incumbents equally effective? Answering these questions could shed light on the effectiveness of incumbent spending in elections generally and on the impact of campaign finance reform. In a two-stage least squares analysis of primaries from 1980 to 2000, this study finds that spending by incumbent governors has no independent impact on their vote share. On the other hand, spending by challengers is effective in attracting votes, even after controlling for challenger quality and incumbent popularity. However, relatively few races are close enough for challenger spending to be decisive. This suggests that to improve gubernatorial primary competition, states would need to increase public campaign funding and spending limits substantially.

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“…The effectiveness of elections as an accountability mechanism is often questioned because electoral success appears to result more from campaign effectiveness (Breaux & Gierzynski, 1991) and incumbency (Erickson, 1995) than from effectiveness of governance. Despite cynicism over elections, the assumption of accountability remains, probably because of the quick and definite consequence of losing (Persson, Roland, & Tabellini, 1997).…”

Section: Accountability In Public Administrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Illusions of Accountability

Anderson

2009

Administrative Theory & Praxis

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Accountability is normally taken for granted as a critical element of democratic public administration. However, the emphasis on individual credit and blame constructs illusions of understanding and behavior that result in a dysfunctional organizational environment and actually inhibit honest and open accounting.Re-visioning accountability as collaborative discourse has the potential to transform it into a productive organizational process that promotes open and transparent democratic governance.

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"It's Money That Matters": Campaign Expenditures and State Legislative Primaries

Cited by 35 publications

References 17 publications

Electronic Grassroots: Does Online Campaigning Work?

Electronic Grassroots: Does Online Campaigning Work?

Not All Money Is Equal: The Differential Effect of Spending by Incumbents and Challengers in Gubernatorial Primaries

Illusions of Accountability

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