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Are All Amateurs Equal? Candidate Quality in the 1992–1998 House Elections
Author(s) -
Roberds Stephen C.,
Roberts Jason M.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
politics and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.259
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1747-1346
pISSN - 1555-5623
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-1346.2002.tb00131.x
Subject(s) - amateur , quality (philosophy) , replicate , coding (social sciences) , political science , advertising , law , sociology , business , social science , epistemology , mathematics , statistics , philosophy
An analysis of U.S. House elections is undertaken for the years 1992–98. Building upon the work of Canon (1990 and 1993), we look at the performance of amateur candidates who defeat at least one quality candidate in the party primary. We find that these “competitive amateurs,” as we call them, are comparable to quality candidates in terms of strategic behavior, fundraising, competitiveness, and electoral success. These results hold for both incumbent and open seat races. The results in many ways replicate Canon's earlier analysis despite a more stringent coding scheme. We present evidence that suggests candidate occupation could be a possible explanation for the success of these candidates. The analyses suggest that the class of candidates we call competitive amateurs should be coded as quality candidates in future congressional research.