INVESTING IN THE FUTURE - ECONOMIC POLITICAL-ACTION COMMITTEE CONTRIBUTIONS TO OPEN-SEAT HOUSE CANDIDATES

The preponderance of literature on political action committees (PACs) focuses on the incumbent-oriented contribution strategies of PACs. Con tributions to open-seat candidates remain unexplored. This study exami nes contributions by four major economic PAC cohorts to open-seat Hous e campaigns from 1982 to 1988. Political action committees pursued pre cise contribution strategies when giving to open-seat candidates and r esponded to a variety of candidate attributes and national electoral i nfluences. Corporate and trade PACs displayed evolving, bipartisan str ategies, whereas labor PACs exclusively supported Democrats. These res ults suggest that interest groups pursue sophisticated contribution st rategies in open-seat elections that resemble the influence and access strategies pursued when giving to incumbents. Interest group-legislat or relationships exist before new members assume office, and these pre existing relationships merit consideration in efforts at congressional electoral reform. In particular, the claim that term limit reforms wi ll break interest group linkages to Congress may be unfounded and meri ts further exploration.