SEEDS FOR SUCCESS - EARLY MONEY IN CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS

Campaign professionals maintain that early money is more valuable than money raised late in the campaign, because it increases the success of later fund raising. We find that early fund raising by House challengers does stimulate later receipts, especially for those who lack experience in elected office. For these candidates, early money from any source improves later fund raising from all sources. For candidates who have held elected office, however, only early money from individual contributors is a significant predictor of later receipts from PACs.