tions also help selected candidates obtain money and other resources from PACs, political consultants, and congressional incumbents. It is difficult to assign a dollar value to most party services. However, two surveys of House and Senate candidates and campaign aides who competed in the 1984 and 1992 elections demonstrate that candidates in close contests, particularly House challenger and open-seat contestants, regard the congressional campaign committees as an important source of election assistance. With few exceptions, the congressional campaign committees are more helpful to candidates than are state and local parties, PACs, and other interest groups. PACs were somewhat more helpful than the congressional campaign committees in fund raising in 1992 but not in 1984. State and local parties were more important than the congressional campaign committees in grassroots activities both years By acting as appendages and accessories to the campaign organizations fielded by congressional candidates and by working as intermediaries between candidate organizations, political consultants, and PACs, the congressional and senatorial campaign committees have become important players in elections. Their role in House challenger campaigns is particularly noteworthy because few PACs or individuals are apt to make large contributions to these candidates. The promise of party contributions, coordinated expenditures, and other forms of assistance can influence a potential challenger's decision to run for Congress. The parties' national, congressional, and senatorial campaign committees also have come to play a bigger role in elections through their fund raising, party-building, voter mobilization programs, and advertising campaigns. National party money, including "soft money" raised outside the boundaries of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974 and its amendments (collectively referred to as FECA), has helped revitalize state and local party o...
