Former TF Loses Bid for Congress

Former Harvard teaching fellow John J. Cranley lost his bid to be a member of the U.S. House of Representatives last night.

As of early this morning, Cranley's opponent, Rep. Steve Chabot, was receiving 58 percent of the vote. Cranley was receiving 40 percent.

The 1999 law school graduate was tapped at the last minute to run, unopposed, for the Democratic nomination in the 1st Ohio district, which includes parts of the city of Cincinnati and its western suburbs.

In his bid, Cranley gained not only experience and name recognition in political circles, but also a small amount of nationwide fame as the subject of an MTV documentary about youth and politics, called "True Life."

Chabot, a "Gingrich Freshman," was running for his fourth term.

The Democratic leadership labeled this district vulnerable in 1998. It had been represented by a Democrat before Chabot took office. That year, Roxanne Qualls, a popular former Cincinnati mayor, ran against Chabot and lost.

According to Cranley, the Democratic National Committee considered Qualls the most likely to win of any Democrat, and wrote the district off as unwinnable in 2000.

The Cranley campaign wanted to change this perception and force the race onto the national agenda.

Cranley's insurgent campaign started to attract some national attention when it managed to raise $150,000 by April 1st without any outside support.

The campaign also hoped to win the extremely Catholic and pro-life Western suburbs, where Cranley grew up.

Cranley himself is both Catholic and pro-life.

But the energy and momentum of the spring did not last through the summer and fall.

The race failed to register as a contested race on either the Republican or Democratic radar.

Besides from an editorial in the New York Times that praised Cranley's courage while conceding that he had little chance of winning, Cranley go little national attention from political pundits.

And incumbent Chabot out-raised and out-spent Cranley by large margins. By October 18, Chabot raised $1,003, 536, and Cranley raised $429,054, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based think-tank which monitors campaign spending.

As the campaign wound to a close, Cranley released television ads attacking Chabot for his dependence on Political Action Committee (PAC) money, referring to him as "PAC Man."

Slightly less than half of Chabot's money for this election came from PACs, while about 30 percent of Cranley's money did.

The majority of Cranley's money came from individual contributions, including at least two well-known Harvard professors. University Professor Cornel R. West '74 and Frankfurter Professor of Law Alan Dershowitz each contributed $250.

In the end, Chabot's incumbent status and large war chest were simply too much for Cranley to overcome, according to Leonard.

Leonard landed his job with the campaign after being a student of Cranley's in his "Warren Court" section in the fall of 1998.