DATA DESCRIPTION BOOKLET This booklet was designed to facilitate usage of the data tape taken from the Federal Election Commission's 1989-90 Report on Financial Activity for Senate and House Campaigns. The booklet contains the following information: Tape Specifications Variable Descriptions - File 1 (Spread) The data tape contains information on the campaigns of all individuals who have registered under the Federal Election Campaign Act as 1989 or 1990 candidates for the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives. As such, the tape includes a number of individuals who may not be statutory candidates under the 1979 Amendments to the FECA, e.g., someone seeking nomination to federal office who has not received contributions or made expenditures aggregating in excess of $5,000. Also included are some individuals who have been certified by the appropriate state authorities as official Senate or House candidates in a 1989 or 1990 primary, runoff, or general election but who have not registered as candidates under the FECA. A campaign includes the candidate, the principal campaign committee as designated by the candidate, and any committees authorized by the candidate to accept contributions or make expenditures for the campaign. This definition of a campaign does not include 1) any office account committee associated with a member of Congress, or 2) any joint fundraising committee authorized by the candidate in conjunction with other candidates or committees. N.B. The tape for 1989-90 does include committees authorized by 1989 or 1990 candidates which exist solely for the purpose of repaying debts from previous elections. Candidates may choose to authorize a separate committee for this purpose, or they may use one committee for both current and past activity. As the latter alternative has become more common, fewer so called "debt" committees have existed, and two candidates undertaking exactly the same activity (i.e., debt retirement) would be treated differently if debt committees were excluded. The tape contains two files. File 1 (Spread) contains one record for each campaign. The records are arranged alphabetically by state abbreviation, and within state by office sought (Senate, then House) and by Congressional District. These records include aggregate information for each campaign for the full two year election cycle beginning January 1, 1989 and ending December 31, 1990. File 2 (Crosstabs) may contain one or more records for each campaign. This file includes one record for each political committee or other filer making a contribution or expenditure for or against each candidate. As such, there will be as many records in the file for each candidate as there are filers making contributions or expenditures in that campaign. The records in this file are arranged in the same sequence as in File 1, with records for a single candidate sorted by the type of committee making the contribution (i.e., corporate committee records appear first, followed by labor committees, etc.) It is important that the limitations of the information on this tape be understood. It represents 1989-90 data which had been entered into the Commission's computer system as of August 4, 1991. While it is intended to give a complete picture of the financial activity of these campaigns during the two-year election cycle, it is possible that amendments to reports will have been filed after the generation of these tapes. Available at the Commission for inspection are microfilmed copies of the original reports which show information as reported by the filers. The microfilmed public record is the official record of the Federal Election Commission. This data tape is one of several tools which have been developed to summarize the vast quantity of data available on the microfilmed public record. Record Length Block Size No. of records File 1 - Spread 459 4000 1759 HOUSE/SENATE TAPE SPREAD FILE ATTRIBUTE DESCRIPTION LOCATION 1) Candidate ID ID number assigned by the Commis- 1-9 sion. The first letter indicates the federal office sought (S for Senate, H for House). The third and fourth char- acters indicate the state in which the candidate has run. 2) Candidate 10-47 Name 3) Incumbent/ I=Incumbent. Incumbent campaigns are 48 Challenger/ those of candidates who have held a Open-Seat Congressional office at any time dur- ing the 101st Congress. With respect to the special elections held in 1989 and 1990 for vacant Congressional seats, post-election receipts and disburse- ments reported by the winners are included in their incumbent-campaign record. Earlier monies reported by these campaigns are found in their special election record, coded as open-seat. C=Challenger. This in- cludes all campaigns in which the candidate ran in a district which contained an incumbent who sought reelection. In cases in which the incumbent was defeated in the pri- mary, the general election was consi- dered to be between two challengers. O=Open Seat. Open-Seat campaigns are those of candidates seeking elec- tions in 1989 or 1990 to seats in which an incumbent was not seeking re- election. This category includes all special election records, al- though monies of special election regular 1990 election process appear in other records for these candidates, coded as I for the special election winner and as a C for losers who ran again in the regular election. 4) Party 1=Democratic, 2=Republican, 3=Other 59 Party. This information is defined for incumbents by the caucus in which they participate, for others, it is taken from candidates' declarations on their Statement of Candidacy or from state ballot listings. 5) Party Desig Three-character code for party. 60-62 AIP=American Independent Party AMP=American Party CIT=Citizens Party COM=Communist Party CRV=Conservative Party CST=Constitutional Party DEM=Democratic Party DFL=Democratic Farm Labor Party IND=Independent LBL=Liberal Party LBU=Liberty Union Party LIB=Libertarian Party NAP=Prohibition Party PAF=Peace and Freedom Party RTL=Right to Life SLP=Socialist Labor Party SUS=Socialist Party U.S.A. SWP=Socialist Workers Party UNK=Unknown 6) Total Re- This column includes all incoming 63-74 ceipts funds reported on Line 16 by the candidates and all committees he or she has authorized for a 1989 or 1990 campaign. It does not include the receipts of office-account com- mittees, or receipts by joint fund- raising committees authorized by the candidate in conjunction with other candidates or committees. 7) Authorized This column includes the movement 75-86 Transfers of monies, goods, or property between From the authorized committees of a single campaign. Note that "transfers" do not include the transfers of funds between the authorized committee and office-account committees, or joint fundraising committees. 8) Total Dis- This column includes all outgoing 87-98 bursements funds reported by all authorized committees on line 22. It does not include disbursements by office- account committees, or joint fund- raising committees. 9) Transfers to See Authorized Transfers From 99-110 Authorized above. 10) Beginning The "cash-on-hand" of a campaign on 111-122 Cash 1/1/89 (or its initial 1989 "cash on hand if it registered after 1/1/89) is reported here. The information is taken from Line 23. 11) Ending Cash The "cash-on-hand" of a campaign on 123-134 the campaign's latest report in 1990 is reported here. 12) Contrib from The total amount of contributions by 135-146 Candidate the candidate to his or her own campaign appears in this column. The source is line 11d. 13) Loans from This column contains the total amounts 147-158 Candidate of loans made by or guaranteed by the candidate to his or own campaign. The source is line 13b. 14) Other Loans This column contains the total amounts 159-170 of loans that were not made by or guaranteed by the candidate. The source is line 13b. 15) Candidate This figure represents the total 171-182 Loan Repay- repayments made by the campaign of ments loans made by or guaranteed by the candidate. Note that a common pat- tern for losing candidates is to forgive loans to their campaigns. This amount then appears as a can- didate loan, a candidate loan repay- ment, and a candidate contribution. The information comes from Line 19a. 16) Other Loan This amount represents the total 183-194 Repayments repayments made by the campaign of loans made by and guaranteed by someone other than the candidate. The source is Line 19b. 17) Debts Owed This column contains the total debts 195-206 By owed by the committee at the time of the filing of their last report re- ceived for the 1989-90 election cycle. The source is Line 10. 18) #$200-$499 This figure represents the total 207-214 Contrib number of contributions received by the campaign from individuals in an amount between $200 and $499. 19) Total $200 This amount represents the sum of all 215-226 -$499 individual contributions received by the campaign in amounts between $200 and $499. 20) #$500-$749 This figure represents the total 227-234 Contrib number of contributions received by the campaign from individuals in an amount between $500 and $749. 21) Total $500 This amount represents the sum of all 235-246 -$749 individual contributions received by the campaign in amounts between $500 and $749. 22) #$750 + This column contains the number of 247-254 Contrib individual contributions in amounts of at least $750 received by the campaign. 23) Total $750 The total dollar value of individual 255-266 + Contrib contributions of at least $750. 24) Total Indiv. This amount represents the sum of all 267-278 Contrib individual contributions in any amount received by the campaign. The source of the information is Line 11a. 25) Major Pty Taken from the reports of Democratic 279-290 Contrib and Republican party political com- mittees, this figure represents con- tributions of monies or in-kind con- tributions of services, goods, or property to the campaign. The source is Line 21 of Schedule B of FEC Form 3X, filed by the party committee. 26) Party Coord This column contains the total amount 291-302 Expend of general election coordinated expen- ditures made by Democratic or Repub- lican party committees in support of the candidate. These expenditures are permitted in 2 U.S.C. Section 441a(d), and are reported on Line 23 of Schedule F of FEC Form 3X, filed by the party committee. Limits on these expendi- tures are based on voting age popula- tion of the state for Senate candidates, and were fixed at $25,140 for House cam- paigns in 1990. 27) Corp. Contri- This amount represents the total 303-314 butions amount of contributions to the cam- paign reported by non-party committees which have identified themselves as being connected with a corporate entity. The source is Line 21 of Schedule B of FEC Form 3X, filed by the committee. (A non-party com- mittee is any committee that has not been authorized by any candidate and is not part of the official party structure at the national, state, or local level, and which has registered as a political committee under the Federal Election Campaign Act, as amended.) 28) Labor Con- This figure represents the total 315-326 tributions amount of contributions to the cam- paign reported by non-party commit- tees which have identified themselves as being connected with a labor entity. The source is Line 21 of Schedule B of FEC Form 3X, filed by the non-party committee. 29) Non-Connected This figure represents the total 327-338 Cont amount of contributions to the cam- paign reported by non-party com- mittees which have not reported a connected organization. The source is Line 21 of Schedule B of FEC Form 3X, filed by the non-party committee. 30) T/M/H Con- This column contains the total 339-350 trib amount of contributions to the cam- paign reported by non-party commit- tees which have reported a connection with a trade association, a member- ship organization, or an organization in the health field. The source is Line 21 of Schedule B of FEC Form 3X, filed by the non-party committee. 31) Cooperative This column contains the total 351-362 Contrib amount of contributions to the campaign reported by non-party committees which have reported a connection with a cooperative. The source is Line 21 of Schedule B of FEC Form 3X, filed by the non-party committee. 32) Corp W/O This column contains the total amount 363-374 Stock Cont of contributions to the campaign re- ported by non-party committees which have reported a connection with a corporation without capital stock. The source is Line 21 of Schedule B of FEC Form 3X, filed by the non- party committee. 33) Non-Party This figure represents the total 375-386 Exp. For amount of independent expenditures made by non-party committees to advocate the election of the candi- date. Independent expenditures are not made with the cooperation of, or in consultation with, the candidate or his or her agents or authorizing committees. The source is Schedule E supporting Line 22. 34) Non-Party This figure represents the total 387-398 Exp. Agn amount of independent expenditures made by non-party committees to advocate the defeat of the candidate. Independent expenditures are not made with the cooperation of, or in consultation with, the candidate or his or her agents or authorizing com- mittees. 35) Indep. Exp This figure represents the total 399-410 For amount of independent expenditures made by filers other than political committees to advocate the election of the candidate. Independent ex- penditures are not made with the cooperation of, or in consultation with, the candidate or his or her agents or authorizing committees. The source is FEC Form 5 filed by the person making the expenditure. 36) Indep Exp This figure represents the total 411-422 Agn amount of independent expenditures made by filers other than political committees to advocate the defeat of the candidate. Independent ex- penditures are not made with the cooperation of, or in consultation with, the candidate or his or her agents or authorizing committee. 37) Comm Cost This column shows the total amount 423-434 For of treasury funds reported by cor- porations, labor unions, and other membership organizations to make internal communications which advo- cate the election of the candidate. These communications may be made only to certain categories of individuals (stockholders and executives and administrative personnel of the cor- porations, members of the unions and membership organizations.) The organ- ization is not required to report these expenditures to the Commission on FEC Form 7 until they exceed $2000 per election for all candidates. Thereafter, all additional communica- tion costs must be reported. 38) Comm Cost This column shows the total amount 435-446 Agn of treasury funds reported by cor- porations, labor unions, and other membership organizations to make internal communications which advo- cate the defeat of the candidate. These communications may be made only to certain categories of indivi- duals (stockholders and executives and administrative personnel of the corporations, members of the unions and memberships organizations.) The organization is not required to re- port these expenditures to the Com- mission on FEC Form 7 until they exceed $2000 per election for all candidates. Thereafter, all addi- tional communication costs must be reported. 39) State Code 447-448 40) District The Congressional district within 449-451 which the candidate ran in 1989 or 1990. Contains 00 for Senate candi- dates. 41) Spec Elec Blank=not involved in a special 452 Status election in 1989 or 1990. W=won special election. L=Lost. R= Runoff was held following a 1989 or 1990 special election. 42) Primary Elec Blank=not involved in a primary 453 Status election in 1989 or 1990. W=won primary election. L=Lost. R=Runoff was held following a 1989 or 1990 primary. 43) Runoff Elec Blank=not involved in runoff elec- 454 Status tion. W=won runoff. L=Lost. 44) General Elec Blank=not involved in November, 455 Status 1990 general election or Louisiana multi-party primary. W=Won general election. L=Lost. 45) General Elec Percentage of November, 1990 general 456-458 Pct election vote received by the candi- date. 46) Spec. Elec. Blank=regular election campaign. S= 459 Cand. Special election campaign. Special election candidates who ran again in the regular 1990 election will have one record coded S and a second record coded blank.