Hodes Appealed to Individual New Hampshire Voters
FECNH
New Hampshire Union Leader
Greg Hellman
Boston University Washington News Service
2/13/2007
WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 —In a year during which voters preoccupied with the Iraq war swept congressional Republicans out in favor of Democrats, freshman Rep. Paul Hodes (D-N.H.) out-raised incumbent Charlie Bass by appealing for change to individual New Hampshire voters.
“It was a Democratic year,” Mark Wrighton, an associate professor of political science at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, said. “In light of the blue tsunami…there’s no denying this was a national election.”
Rep. Hodes raked in $1,648,323 in all, including more than $366,000 in individual contributions from New Hampshirites, according to end-of-year campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. Those individual contributions included an “unprecedented” number of smaller contributions, said Dana Houle, Hodes’ campaign manager and now his chief of staff,.
“Some New Hampshire voters can afford to give $2,100, so that’s what they do,” Houle said. “Others can only give $25 here or there, but his campaign generated a lot of enthusiasm.”
In vying for a seat Democratic activists pegged long ago as vulnerable, Hodes set out to compile as large a war chest as possible, Houle said.
“People were looking for a change and rejoicing that he was a good candidate and wanted to support him,” Houle said. “We weren’t surprised by it. We set goals of how much money we were going to need, and Paul was very dedicated to his campaign.”
By hosting house parties and directing supporters to the Internet, Hodes’ campaign collected nearly 741 individual donations throughout the state, according to Congressional Quarterly’s PoliticalMoneyLine Web site
“A lot of these house parties would generally bring in $25 or $50 donations,” Houle said. “One of the ways you raise money is through repeat donors. A lot of money just came in to us through the mail.”
Hodes’ large fundraising base in New Hampshire stands in contrast to the record of his opponent, who collected just under $210,000 from individual donors in the state, more than $150,000 less than Hodes raised from New Hampshirites, according to PoliticalMoneyLine. In all, Bass raised $1,228,541.
“We went through [Bass’s] campaign finances, and it was clear that he had not raised much money from New Hampshire donors or even individual donors,” Houle said.
While Hodes received the majority of his individual contributions from New Hampshire, he also gathered significant amounts of money from out of state, including nearly $150,000 from New York. As the Democratic Party’s fundraising and campaigning arm targeted candidates whom it believed posed strong threats to unseating Republicans, donors looked to Hodes as a viable candidate, Houle said.
“There were a lot of national donors who were focused on turning over Congress,” he said. “[New York’s] where there are a lot of national donors.”
Yet another component of Hodes’ fundraising success came as a result of Internet donations, as supporters logged on to his campaign Web site and contributed while adding their names to the growing call list of campaign backers.
“We did a pretty aggressive Internet program,” Houle said. “I think it’s an indication of how broad the support was and the enthusiasm in the air. When people give money it’s an indication of how involved they are. This meant there were more people just talking about the campaign.”
According to Massie Ritsch, communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based organization that tracks campaign financing and spending, Hodes’ use of the Internet to build his coffers reflects a broader movement of candidates’ using the medium.
“The Internet has really boosted donations, particularly at the smaller levels,” Ritsch said. “You have to do almost nothing to get those donations.”
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