Hodes Holds Big Money Advantage in 2nd Congressional District Race
FEC HODES
The Keene Sentinel
Joe Vines
Boston University Washington News Service
October 23, 2008
WASHINGTON− Rep. Paul Hodes, D-N.H., holds a significant fundraising advantage over Republican challenger Jennifer Horn as the campaign for the 2nd Congressional District House seat enters the final weeks.
According to data from the Federal Election Commission, Hodes, seeking a second term, enters the homestretch with $563,363 in his campaign treasury as of the Sept. 30 deadline for filing campaign finance reports with the FEC and bringing his fundraising total to a staggering $1.8 million.
That sum is more than 40 percent greater than the average for all House incumbents this year, according to opensecrets.org, a nonpartisan Web site that compiles campaign finance information.
Horn, a former radio talk-show host from Nashua who has largely financed her own campaign, reported $109,646 left in her coffers as of Sept. 30 after collecting $403,695 through that date. Horn personally loaned her campaign $214,844, according to the Federal Election Commission.
The majority of Hodes’ contributions have come from outside New Hampshire. His biggest contributors have been trial lawyers and labor unions. Horn’s biggest contributors have been the real estate industry and trial lawyers.
“The congressman has raised over $550,000 from inside New Hampshire,” said Mark Bergman, the Hodes campaign’s spokesman. “I think people in New Hampshire are responding to his message of standing up for people here.”
While most of Hodes’ money has come from outside the Granite State, he has had the help of a few local big-money donors, including grocery store magnates Richard and Jan Cohen of Keene, who each donated $4,600, the maximum combined amount for a primary and general election.
Horn received a $500 donation from former Rep. Charles F. Bass, who defeated Hodes handily in 2004 but lost to him in a rematch in 2006.
Horn has been hitting Hodes in recent weeks for accepting money from the securities and investment industry in an effort to tie Hodes, who sits on the House Financial Services and Oversight Committees, to the economic crisis.
“Paul Hodes saw the economic crisis brewing two years ago,” said David Chesley, Horn’s campaign manager. “He has taken $150,000 from those industries he is supposed to oversee and provided no oversight for.”
But Hodes aide Bergman said: “Those contributions have not affected his vote. If he were in the pocket of the financial services industry, he would not have voted against the bailout bill not once but twice…. To say that is disingenuous.”
Though Horn has hit Hodes for taking money from the financial services industry, she accepted a $1,000 donation from Amtrust group, a financial insurance company, and has collected $5,768 from the financial services and insurance industry overall, according to opensecrets.org.
Money from political action committees has also played a major role in the race. Horn received $10,000, the federal limit, from White Mountain PAC, the committee headed by Sen. Judd Gregg. Horn also received $11,000 from PACs supporting the automotive industry. Political action committees are organizations set up by public officials and private groups to raise money for political candidates.
Hodes has taken $778,826 from PACs, according to the Federal Election Commission, the majority of the money coming from business and labor PACs. Hodes received the federal maximum of $10,000 from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
Horn has also received help from the National Republican Congressional Committee in recent weeks. The fundraising arm of the House Republicans spent $84,000 on a television advertisement for Horn in a last-ditch effort to flip the seat.
Recent polling by the New Hampshire Institute of Politics showed Hodes leading with 35 percent to Horn’s 18 percent, though 45 percent of respondents said they were undecided, a large number this late in the campaign.
“This is not a top-of-the ballot race.” Bergman said. “[Hodes] is going to have the resources down the stretch to communicate his message. We feel confident with where we stand in this race.”
Horn’s campaign is optimistic that she is going to be able to appeal to the undecided voters and close the gap. “Paul Hodes has been campaigning for six years, and it’s clear that a large number of individuals are not sold on Paul Hodes and looking for someone else,” Chesley said. “I am confident Jennifer Horn can win this campaign, and she will have all the resources she needs to win.”
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