A note on senatorial mass mailing expenditure and the quest for reelection

Conclusion

This analysis outlines a mass mailing system heavily driven by the desire of Senators to remain in office, using federal money to assist in achieving that objective. The data used here are obviously fragmentary, but they provide a foundation for more extensive work, assuming that the Senate continues its new policy of disclosure. At least as many questions have been raised by this analysis as have been answered, but the evidence does suggest that this spending is part of the drive for reelection. The findings may provide some of the reason for the general unimportance of campaign expenditure by the incumbent on the election result — the resources of the office, including mass mailing, provide sufficient exposure at public expense to dilute the effect of spending in the campaign. We do not know whether such mailing expenditures have any more influence on incumbent success than does direct campaign but, given more experience and data, it should be possible to find out.