For many years organized interest groups have been involved in congressional elections. These groups are determined to influence the result of the elections in a way that will benefit them. Today organized interest groups are highly dependent on Political Action Committees (PACs) to do majority of their campaign activities; these activities have to deal with providing support and assistance to the candidates they support. PACs can fall within two categories: ideologist based and access based. The type, mission, and purpose of the PAC can be used to determine exactly why the interest group would decide back a particular candidate (Herrson 104).

House incumbents such as Democrat Rosa DeLauro have a tendency to depend on party committees, individuals, and PACs to support their campaigns (Herrson 130). According to opensecrets.org, Rosa DeLauro has raised $898,214 for her campaign, sixty-four percent of it from PAC contributions. DeLauro’s campaign has been supported by both access and ideological PACs. Ideological PACs follow strategies that will help them increase the number of legislators with their political views. They believe that congressional elections are their opportunity to influence who will be the members of congress and Affect public policy. Ideological based PACs would normally invest their funds in a close election but in some circumstances they may give support in noncompetitive races in order to attract more attention to themselves or organization, or towards a politician who supports their way of thinking (Herrson109). Rosa DeLauro’s campaign has been backed by a substantial number of Ideological based PACs such as the American Federation of Teachers.

http://www.opensecrets.org/races/summary.php?id=CT03&cycle=2010

On the other hand, access based PACs focus on getting the attention of congress. They use the elections to get in good with the members of congress who are likely to support legislation that is important to their organization. Election time gives these PACs the opportunity to make nice with influential legislator or even attempt to decrease tension between those who disagree with them (Herrson110). Boeing Co. is the world’s top manufacture of commercial airplanes and invests in much other expenditure as well. The company has donated $10,000 to Rosa DeLauro’s campaign with the hopes of getting Congress to increase defense spending and gain military contracts.

House challengers are not as lucky as incumbents. Challengers are often unable to raise enough money to match their opponent. This is unfortunate for Republican challenger Jerry Labriola who depends less on the finical support of PACs. Altogether Labriola has raised $108,344 for his campaign with only two percent from PAC contributions. The majority of his finances have been provided by individuals and his own finances. The reason why Labriola has not been able to raise as much money as DeLauro may be due to his limited campaigning experience and lack of name recognition (Herrson140-142).With such a disadvantage one would question what made Labriola decide to run in the first place.