ABSTRACT
A sea of money that had been flowing reliably to Congressional Democrats and the party that controlled the White House abruptly reversed direction and began gushing in torrents to Republican challengers. The fact that money continued to flow into congressional campaigns in much in 1994 that it had for the last several election cycles is powerful testimony to the inertia of the campaign economy. The chapter discusses the role of money in the 1994 election and beyond with a brief overview of the flows of money into general election races for the House and Senate. It considers change, both the small signs of change that were discernible in the campaign and the prospects for a critical realignment of money in the wake of the election. Republicans began their efforts to redirect interested political money even before the election when Newt Gingrich warned, "for anyone who's not on board, it's going to be the two coldest years in Washington.".
