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POLITICAL PLAYBOOK 
Financial Profiles from ElectionLine: The Coin-Operated Congress: Advocacy Groups: Republican Landslide: the sequel?: Democratic National Committee:
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Posted June 4, 1996
Everyone knows the old saw about all politics being local. While the saying still rings true, campaigns across the country are often guided by heavy top-down influence. While critical to their parties, the role a handful of party leaders play in shaping strategy and raising cash for Congressional candidates nationwide is underappreciated. Republicans, for instance, feel that their campaign organizations, which helped develop the House Contract With America, were critical in their massive 1994 victories. Thus, the appointments are taken very seriously within Congress. They also bring with them institutional status and, not least, give the chairmen access to a vast fund-raising network which can offer personal rewards down the road. As the parties prepare for the mortal combat of the summer campaign season leading up to the 1996 elections, several key officials on both sides are helping to raise and distribute campaign funds, recruit candidates, and ferret out their opponents' most vulnerable seats. Some of the men are well-known, but their roles as chairmen of campaign organizations may not be. Here's a look at some leading campaign maestros of the two parties, their strategies and tactics, and the forecasts they face heading into November.
Martin Frost: Frost, a nine-term Democrat from Texas, is chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). His daunting -- though not impossible -- challenge is to help engineer a Democratic return to control of the House of Representatives. Winning the minimum 20 seats necessary hasn't been made any easier by the 28 Democrats who are surrendering their seats, or by the five who switched to the Republican party since 1994. Frost is aiming hard to make gains from the seats of 47 Republican freshman who won in '94 with 55 percent of the vote or less. Frost, appointed by House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt after the disastrous 1994 election, is a Democratic loyalist and a skilled fund-raiser; he is particularly adept at bringing in business PAC dollars, and the $9.6 million he has raked in last year is more than he raised in 1993 when his party still controlled Congress. But recruiting strong candidates two years after the party's 1994 blowout has proved difficult. Some have resisted Frost's pitches, and at least four Republicans will run unopposed in November. John Paxon: Paxon, a four-term New York Representative, chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee. Although he hasn't much of a legislative record of his own, Paxon's stock soared within the party after he helped engineer the Contract With America and the GOP's 54-seat gain in 1994. He aggressively sought the appointment in 1992 by campaigning and fund raising for his colleagues. After taking the helm of an NRCC that was $4.5 million in hock and dispirited, Paxon is credited with turning around the both the personnel and public image of the organization. Although 19 of his House troops are retiring, Paxon and the RNCC raised over $25 million last year, nearly triple the DCCC's take. That trend has continued into 1996. And while Paxon optimistically projects a gain of 20 to 30 seats for his party, protecting his increasingly blemished corps of House freshman won't be easy. One ominous sign for House Republican candidates: Texas Rep. Greg Laughlin (R), one of the GOP's celebrated party switchers, was knocked off in a Senate primary against former Libertarian presidential candidate Ron Paul.
Bob Kerrey: Kerrey, a second-term Nebraska Democrat, is chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Kerrey did not actively seek the post: he was reportedly persuaded by Democrats at the urging of the White House, which saw him as a possible primary challenger to President Clinton (he was a Democratic candidate in 1992). The idea was to keep Kerrey busy and loyal, although it is not clear if his well-known contempt for Clinton has diminished. Meanwhile, Kerrey faces a bleak electoral forecast: The weak hopes Democrats hold for reclaiming the House are even dimmer when it comes to the Senate. In light of a raft of Democratic retirements, many in the increasingly unfriendly South, Kerrey may in fact be more concerned with simply holding his party's 47 seats. There is a bright spot: the recent victory of Democrat Ron Wyden to fill the seat of disgraced Sen. Bob Packwood, R-OR, was a needed shot in the arm. Kerrey has been able to retire old DSCC debts and raised about $11 million last year, but that was only a third of his GOP counterpart's total. To help make up the difference, Kerrey has concentrated on recruiting wealthy business leaders who can help bankroll their own races. Al D'Amato: D'Amato, a third-term Republican from New York, chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC). Despite a shaky national reputation, D'Amato has become an all-purpose politico for the party and wields more power than all but a few other Senators. In addition to his NRSC duties he chairs the Senate's special committee investigating Whitewater, and is the national campaign chairman for Bob Dole's presidential campaign. D'Amato has put his deep and wide political clout to good use, pulling in almost $32 million for the NRSC in 1995, about triple the Democrats' sum. (His predecessor, Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, milked the post for fund-raising contacts as he prepared his run for the White House). While D'Amato has few worries about losing control -- or even seats, for that matter -- in the Senate, events like Wyden's win have forced a revision of earlier forecasts that Republicans might pick up a crucial 60-seat majority, enough to shut down Democratic filibusters.
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