December 13, 2004

Money No Guarantee for Success
on Campaign Trail in 2004 Races

By Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside Editor

You might have to pay to play in the big leagues of politics. But the Texas elections this year show that you can't live on bread alone and expect to win every time.

The campaign trail - in fact - is strewn with the remains of Texas House campaigns that had more money to spend than the opponents who beat them in 2004.

But five of the 10 candidates who raised the most money for Texas House campaigns lost at the polls in 2004.

Fifteen of 35 state House candidates with war chests topping $200,000 received less votes than their major opponents this year. Two of the candidates who raised more money than their opponents in targeted Congressional races in Texas are now looking for other work after losing last month.

U.S. Rep. Martin Frost - a veteran Dallas lawmaker who's now in the running for the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee - raised more money than any congressional candidate in the nation except for U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert - and Frost still lost to U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions. Not that Sessions was a fundraising slouch. The Dallas Republican ranked third nationally in fundraising with $4.4 million compared to Frost's $4.6 million. The Frost-Sessions contest in Congressional District 32 was easily the most expensive U.S. House race in the nation this year.

Seven Texas House contests had price tags of $1 million or more this year when both sides totals are measured together. But while candidates with the most money won five of those, the tentative winner of the race that's received the most attention since the polls closed didn't come close to matching his foe dollar for dollar. In the race for House District 149 in west Houston, Democrat Hubert Vo had about half as much money for his campaign than veteran State Rep. Talmadge Heflin in a district where Republicans had claimed 58 percent of the statewide vote two years before. Despite having the sixth largest war chest in the state, Heflin finished with 33 votes less than the challenger in last month's general election. Heflin's votes ended up being worth about $30 apiece while Vo got a better deal with a campaign that ended up spending less than $15 for each vote it received. The key to Vo's bargain appeared to be an emphasis on a voter contact effort that relied more on shoeleather than cash - especially when compared to Heflin's major radio buys late in the race.

The price tags on the Heflin-Vo encounter and two others are still growing with the candidates raising money to pay lawyers for election contests that have been filed in the House by Heflin, State Rep. Jack Stick of Austin and Republican Eric Opiela of Karnes City.

Stick amassed more financial support for his re-election bid than Heflin in an Austin contest that turned out to be the most expensive state House race in the state this year. Stick pulled ahead of Strama slightly in the fundraising department with an infusion of almost $100,000 in contributions in the final week of the campaign. Both candidates ended up having more than $700,000 apiece for the campaign, which culminated with the Republican incumbent receiving 569 fewer votes than his Democratic foe. The fate of Stick's challenge is unclear after he missed a Friday deadline for posting a $5,000 bond required of candidates contesting elections.

Republican John Otto got the best deal when he won almost 55 percent of the vote despite having one-third the amount of money for his race than State Rep. Dan Ellis, the Livingston Democrat he defeated. The final totals made Otto's votes worth $2.65 each compared to votes worth about ten bucks apiece for the incumbent. In another East Texas district, former House member Bob Glaze only had $1 in new money to spend for each vote he received in the HD 5 match against Republican State Rep. Bryan Hughes. But Glaze started the abbreviated campaign with a big surplus and received only 38 percent of the vote.

In another East Texas race, Republican H.E. (Pete) Snow of Texarkana had more than $400,000 for his HD 1 bid while Atlanta lawyer Stephen Frost ended up with less than $300,000 to spend on the campaign. Frost won with almost 53 percent of the November vote. Democratic State Rep. Jim McReynolds won a close race for re-election against former House member Billy Clemons, who came on strong in the final weeks of the campaign and ended up raising more money than the incumbent who'd knocked him off eight years before. Republican Ann Witt had almost $100,000 more to spend on her campaign for HD 137 than State Rep. Scott Hochberg. But that didn't stop the Houston Democrat from winning with 57 percent of the general election vote. Witt ended up spending more money for each vote received than any candidate in the state - with her votes worth about $43 each compared to votes worth about $24 each for Hochberg.

Baxter - the state House candidate who raised the most money in 2004 - had help from an infusion of $137,000 in cash and in-kind support during the final week of the campaign to victory over Democrat Kelly White. With contributions topping $600,000, White raised more than all but six other state House contenders all year. But White still only had about four dollars to spend for every five that Baxter had amassed for his re-election bid.

Former State Senator David Bernsen of Beaumont had massive help from fellow trial lawyers, who gave him more than $660,000 for a primary campaign that he lost to State Rep. Allan Ritter. Bernsen, an unsuccessful candidate for Texas Land Commissioner in 2002, ranked fifth overall in fundraising for state House races despite his elimination after two months in the race. Ritter had $363,000 to use in defending his seat in the face of opposition from trial lawyers upset with his support for medical malpractice limits last year.

State Rep. Patrick Rose of Dripping Springs jumped to an early fundraising lead among state House contenders and ended up having more than $700,000 for his re-election bid. But Republican challenger Alan Askew gave Rose a run for his money by relying on family loans to build a war chest of almost $600,000 for a campaign the eventually fell short.