INCUMBENTS IN TROUBLE? NOT HERE
ALL 8 SURVIVE A MOOD TO TOSS THE BUMS OUT

Published: Thursday, November 5, 1992
Section: FRONT , page A14
Source: Associated Press

© 1992 Landmark Communications Inc.

A much-ballyhooed anti-incumbent mood did not translate into defeat for any of Virginia's eight congressmen seeking re-election.

There were no incumbents in the state's other three districts - two won by Democrats, one by a Republican.

``Every year there's this incredible hype about anti-incumbent sentiment, and it doesn't materialize,'' Virginia Commonwealth University political science professor Robert Holsworth said. ``On the surface, it seems very peculiar.''

But it's really not so strange, he said, when one considers the built-in advantages of incumbency. Members of Congress typically raise and spend more money than challengers, and they can mail literature to constituents at taxpayer expense. The material cannot be campaign-related, but Holsworth said it still ``is a way of building name recognition that other people have to pay for.''

Also, Holsworth said, congressmen build good will through constituent services.

``People often talk about Congress being out of touch, but individual congressmen tend to be very much in touch with the daily needs of their constituents,'' Holsworth said.

As a result, he said, voters perceive their own representatives as effective, but believe the other incumbents are the ones causing problems.

``The American voter has decided people in other districts ought to throw their bum out,'' Holsworth said.

Lt. Gov. Donald S. Beyer Jr. agreed. ``The anti-incumbent mood is anti-everybody else's incumbent,'' he said.

He said the voters' disgust with career politicians showed up mostly in 14 states where term limits were approved. Said Beyer, ``It's easier to be for term limits than to turn out the congressman who writes to you 12 times a year.''

Michael Rau, spokesman for independent Ross Perot's failed presidential bid in Virginia, cited other factors for the incumbent successes. Some people simply fear change, he said, and others rail against the negative campaigning that sometimes accompanies an anti-incumbent theme.

Patrick McSweeney, state Republican Party chairman, said the anti-incumbent sentiment certainly exists. GOP congressional campaigns simply were not effective in tapping into it, he said. Five Democratic incumbents turned back GOP challenges.

``We didn't get our message across, and I take the blame for that,'' McSweeney said. ``We should have done more to capitalize on what I think was a strong mood.''

Two Democrats and an independent also failed to oust three GOP congressmen. McSweeney said the Republicans felt less anti-incumbent heat because they are the minority party in Congress.

Paul Goldman, chairman of the state Democratic Party, said the Virginia congressmen survived the voters' angry mood partly because they were not involved in the House check-bouncing scandal.

But with Democrats now in control of both the White House and Congress, they may become more vulnerable to anti-incumbent sentiment, Goldman said.

McSweeney said Republicans are counting on it.

``We don't think this anti-incumbent mood is over, because we are likely to see a record deficit next year, far beyond this year's,'' McSweeney said.