Posted on 06/24/2003 10:52:42 PM PDT by LdSentinal
Summers of non-election years rarely mark the height of campaign combat: Fundraising tapers off after the mad rush of June, the legislative calendar dominates July and many members of Congress head for vacation in August.
But for a small group of nervous representatives who narrowly won their seats last year, this summer will be as frenetic and full of politicking as ever.
These members -- between 20 and 30 freshmen and a smattering of veterans from both parties -- will spend the next three months at backyard fundraisers, town-hall meetings, church outings and meet-and-greets with veterans, teachers and business leaders.
Their two major goals are raising money -- most incumbents estimate their campaigns will cost between $2 million and $2.5 million -- and making contact with voters from July 4 through Labor Day.
"I want to bring Washington to rural Arizona," said Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.).
The first-term congressman, who won 49 percent of the vote last November, said his summer would include a 14-day swing through the 58,000-square-mile 1st Congressional District.
During his tour, which will include stops at 12 hotels for meetings with voters, Renzi will cover everything from veterans benefits to the Endangered Species Act to school reform.
And even though he paints himself as a conservative -- his campaign website says he's anti-abortion, anti-tax increase, pro-gun rights and pro-missile defense -- Renzi added that he's out to get the fattest slice of the federal pie possible for his district.
"I got to prove myself by bringing home the bacon," he said.
Other members say the summer is just the latest chapter in a re-election campaign that started last fall.
"I've never stopped fundraising," said Rep. Michael Rogers (R-Ala.), who won his first term in Congress last year with 50 percent of the vote.
"We started the day after the last election," added Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.), a former state legislator who knocked off embattled Rep. Gary Condit in the March 2002 Democratic primary and garnered 52 percent of the vote in the general election.
Both Rogers and Cardoza will spend the next few months mingling with as many voters as possible.
For Rogers, that means spending two Sundays a month at a church other than his own, touching base with mayors, visiting factories and regularly making the four-hour drive from Cedar Bluffs, in the northern end of his district, to Phoenix City, in the south.
"It's certainly important that these relationships be established," Rogers said. "You've got to make that initial contact."
In Cardoza's case, the permanent campaign to hold onto his San Joaquin Valley seat also involves lots of retail politics, including a July 5 get together in the congressman's back yard in Merced, Calif., for 200-300 party activists.
Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania's 13th Congressional District, where Democrat Joe Hoeffel could face real competition next year, there are Saturdays With Joe -- stop-bys at diners, occasional town-hall meetings and as much chit-chat with as many voters as possible.
The three-term congressman, who last year won 51 percent of the vote in the newly reconfigured district, added that summer in his district outside Philadelphia is not all that different for him from the rest of the year.
Freshmen and those whose districts encompass fresh territory must increase their name recognition. But for some members, holding onto their seats isn't about meeting new voters. It's about cobbling together a coalition of supporters in a district that, in some instances, is demographically, racially and politically hostile to their parties.
As Terry Carmack, chief of staff for fourth-term Rep. Anne Northup (R-Ky.), put it, his boss can't afford to spend too much time away from her district, which encompasses Louisville and surrounding areas.
Black voters and organized labor make the city, on the banks of the Ohio River, something of an island of Democrats in a sea of Republicans. Northup has never reeled in more than 53 percent of the vote.
"She doesn't take the two-week [congressional delegation trip] to Africa or to Europe,because it's just not possible," Carmack said of Northup.
"You just have to be in your district, doing your job, being visible, and two weeks in Africa isn't part of that plan."
Carmack, who predicted Northup's campaign would cost $3 million, as it has in the past, added: "In lots of ways, the job she has is completely different than what 90 percent of the members of Congress have."
Rep. Tim Bishop (D-N.Y.), whose 1st District seat on Long Island could also prove competitive next year, more or less agreed with Carmack about the importance of concentrating on the job at hand.
"I'm focusing on doing my job as well as it can possibly be done," Bishop said.
Referring to voters, he said: "They will vote for someone who is working hard."
The first-term congressman, a former college president who's used to asking for six-figure gifts, said that this summer he would attend 12-15 events with 15-20 supporters each, as well as one major fundraiser.
The fundraisers, Bishop added, usually involve cocktails at a friend's house or, sometimes, at the house of a friend of a friend. "I'm trying to build increasingly larger circles."
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