Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 31, 1991                   TAG: 9103310033
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

INCUMBENTS KEEP PAC FUNDS EDGE

Incumbents received 79.1 percent, or $126 million, of the $159.3 million that PACs gave to House and Senate campaigns in the 1989-90 cycle, the Federal Election Commission said.

In the 1987-88 cycle, 74.2 percent of PAC donations went to incumbents. In 1985-86, the incumbents' share of PAC money was 68.8 percent.

Those trying to unseat incumbents saw their share of money from interest groups and other PACs decline.

Just 10.2 percent of PAC donations to federal candidates, or $16.2 million, went to challengers in the 1990 election cycle, down from 11.8 percent for 1988 elections and 14.2 percent in 1985-86. The rest of the PAC money went to candidates in races where there was no incumbent seeking re-election.

Because of their majorities in both chambers of Congress, Democrats benefited most from PAC contributions to incumbents. Of the total PAC contributions in 1989-90, $98.3 million went to Democrats and $60.8 million to Republicans. An earlier study by the public interest group Common Cause showed House incumbents on average had 6 1/2 times more campaign money than challengers in the 1990 elections.

Common Cause and other groups seeking campaign finance reforms such as public financing and spending limits complain that incumbents have an overwhelming edge in fund-raising.

The king of PACs in fund-raising was the Democratic Republican Voter Education Committee, which is affiliated with the Teamsters union. DRIVE raised $10.5 million in the 1989-90 cycle, nearly twice the amount raised by the No. 2 fund-raiser, the American Medical Association PAC.

Keywords:
POLITICS