N.H. House Races Draw Cash from Across Country
OUT-OF-STATE CASH
New Hampshire Union Leader
Jenny Paul
Boston University Washington News Service
10/29/08
WASHINGTON – New Hampshire’s U.S. House races are garnering interest – and cash – from all corners of the nation.
All four candidates for the state’s two House seats have raised tens of thousands of dollars from out-of-state donors, with most money coming from individuals in Massachusetts, New York and California, according to campaign finance data filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Democratic incumbent Paul Hodes, who represents the 2nd District, has raised at least $482,000 so far during the campaign from people who live in other states, the most of any of the four New Hampshire candidates, according to campaign finance data. The figure does not include contributions from political action committees, formed by industries and interest groups to raise and contribute money to candidates. It also does not take into account funds from individuals who have contributed less than $200 to the campaign, because the campaigns are not required to report details about such donors.
Out-of-state donors are responsible for nearly half of the $1 million Hodes has raised from individuals during the campaign. In total, Hodes has raised $1.8 million since the campaign began.
“People across the country view the congressman as a leader, as a leader of his peers and in Congress,” campaign spokesman Mark Bergman said. “There has been some support around the country, but he’s proud of his support raising over $550,000 from 1,500 individuals in New Hampshire.”
That’s not unusual, according to a study reported by the Center for Responsive Politics:
between 2005 and 2007, 97 percent of members of the House received more than half of their contributions from donors living outside of their districts.
Many of Hodes’ out-of-state contributions come from residents of New York, who contributed about $144,000, and Massachusetts, who contributed about $156,000.Hodes has connections to New York because he was born in New York City and his mother still resides there, Bergman said. He said it makes sense for Massachusetts residents to donate to the campaign because the state and New Hampshire share similar interests.
Benjamin Schwartz, a writer and former commercial fisherman from Wendell, Mass., has donated $4,600 to Hodes’ campaign, the maximum amount allowed under federal law. Schwartz, who was a Massachusetts delegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention, said he contributes to Democratic candidates around the country to “help the Democratic agenda.”
“The House of Representatives is a national decision-making body, and so it is important if I want to help a certain agenda that I believe in to move forward, like energy independence and positive social policies, then I should support congressmen who are in election fights and in whom I believe, regardless of where they come from,” Schwartz said. “I support my local congressman, but I don’t have an agenda beyond making sure that good public servants like Paul get reelected.”
Schwartz cited Hodes’ push to upgrade the Manchester Veterans Affairs Medical Center to a full-service veterans’ hospital as one of the reasons he supports the candidate.
“I may not be from New Hampshire, and I may not be a veteran, but I care about these things,” he said.
Hodes raked in at least $41,000 from out-of-state individuals from Aug. 21 to Sept. 30, according to his latest campaign report. His challenger, Jennifer Horn, raised about $3,000 from out-of-state donors during the same time period, and at least $29,000 from them since the campaign began. David Chesley, Horn’s campaign manager, said most of the out-of-state contributions came from members of Horn’s family.
Horn’s campaign has raised $226,000 so far in the campaign, just more than 12 percent of Hodes’ total haul. Horn also loaned her campaign $194,600. As an incumbent, Hodes was bound to have a fundraising advantage, Chesley said.
“People in New Hampshire aren’t sold on Paul Hodes,” Chesley said. “Paul Hodes is taking the out-of-state interests to influence New Hampshire races, and, in the end, the people who influence New Hampshire races are the voters in the 2nd District of New Hampshire.”
In the 1st District, Democratic incumbent Carol Shea-Porter and Republican challenger Jeb Bradley are in a tight race – in the polls and in terms of money raised.
Shea-Porter holds a 5 percentage-point lead over Bradley, according to a poll the University of New Hampshire Survey Center conducted last week for the Boston Globe. In that poll, 44 percent supported Shea-Porter, 39 percent preferred Bradley and 14 percent were undecided. A UNH poll released at the end of September showed Bradley with a 45-to-42 percent lead.
Pia Carusone, the spokeswoman for Shea-Porter’s campaign, said she thinks the congresswoman is connecting with voters by focusing on the state of the economy and other issues that matter to middle-class voters and will do so until Election Day.
“We’re just going to continue working hard,” Carusone said. “We’ve got a lot of events lined up and we’re going to be out there talking to people about issues that matter, like health care and the war in Iraq. People connect with the congresswoman on those issues.”
Shea-Porter has raised $1.25 million since the campaign began, while Bradley has raised about $1.1 million, including $200,000 that he personally loaned to his campaign, according to campaign finance data.
Between Aug. 21 and Sept. 30, Democrats from other states rallied to fill Shea-Porter’s coffers, making about $45,000 in contributions to her campaign. Shea-Porter has raised about $200,000 from out-of-state individuals during the entire campaign.
Carusone played down the value of out-of-state money, noting that the campaign’s average contribution from individual donors is under $100.
“It’s just the strength of the grassroots campaign,” she said. “It’s not like we’re traveling from city to city having high-end events.”
Bradley, who held the 1st District House seat for two terms until he was defeated by Shea-Porter in 2006, has raised about $46,000 from out-of-state individuals, with $2,300 of that raised between Aug. 21 and Sept. 30. Alicia Preston, the Bradley campaign’s spokeswoman, said she thinks Shea-Porter is receiving a large amount of money from outside the state because Democrats are afraid she will lose her seat in the election.
“My interpretation would be that the Democrats are afraid,” Preston said. “They know [Shea-Porter has] represented the interests of Nancy Pelosi [the Democratic Speaker of the House], and that’s not what people in New Hampshire are looking for.”
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