SEEDS FOR SUCCESS - EARLY MONEY IN CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS

Campaign professionals maintain that early money is more valuable than money raised late in the campaign, because it increases the success o f later fund raising. We find that early fund raising by House challen gers does stimulate later receipts, especially for those who lack expe rience in elected office. For these candidates, early money from any s ource improves later fund raising from all sources. For candidates who have held elected office, however, only early money from individual c ontributors is a significant predictor of later receipts from PACs.