More than 30 academics were among the hundreds of challengers who tried and failed to unseat Congressional incumbents in last week’s elections.
But three college professors knocked off Republican members of the House of Representatives who had been elected in the G.O.P.'s 1994 tidal wave, and a vice-president of Indiana State University captured an open House seat for the Republicans.
Walter Capps, a professor of religious studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara, beat Representative Andrea Seastrand of California. Ms. Seastrand, a Republican, won her seat in 1994 with a narrow victory over Mr. Capps, who has taught at Santa Barbara since 1964.
Brian Baird, an associate professor and chairman of the psychology department at Pacific Lutheran University, ousted Representative Linda Smith of Washington, another member of the G.O.P. class of ’94. This was Mr. Baird’s first run for office.
Another professor who won a House seat last week is not a novice politician but a seasoned pro. David Price, a political-science professor at Duke University and a Democrat, had served four terms in Congress until he ran into the Republican buzzsaw two years ago. Last week he defeated the man who defeated him, Frederick Heineman, by a 10-percentage-point margin.
The election of Edward A. Pease insures that there will be newly elected academics on both sides of the House aisle come January. Mr. Pease resigned in June as vice-president for university advancement at Indiana State University to pursue his campaign full-time. That decision paid off with his easy victory over Robert Hellman in Indiana. He succeeds fellow Republican John T. Myers, who retired.
The other academics who ran for federal office last week were not so fortunate. Some lost narrowly, and others, running as independents or small-party candidates, got only token support.
Some had friends in high places. Hillary Rodham Clinton campaigned for Ann Henry, a political-science professor at the University of Arkansas, who had held the Clintons’ wedding reception in her living room. But she lost badly to Republican Asa Hutchinson.
Mary Rieder, a professor of economics at Winona State University who had served briefly as interim chancellor of Minnesota’s state-college system, was dubbed the"mom with a Ph.D.” by the local news media. She fell just short in her attempt to unseat Republican Representative Gil Gutknecht.
Three of the four academics who ran for the Senate got no more than 4 per cent of the vote. John C. Rensenbrink, an emeritus professor of government at Bowdoin College, got 3.8 per cent as the Green Party candidate in Maine; Mark Thornton, an economist at Auburn University, attracted the endorsement of Ross Perot but just 1.8 per cent of the vote as the Libertarian Party candidate in Alabama; and Christopher Phelps, a visiting professor of history at the University of Oregon, got just 0.5 per cent of the vote carrying the banner of the Socialist Workers Party in Oregon.
Another academic, with a famous political name, did better, but not well enough, in his bid for a Senate seat. James Boren, a political-science professor at Northeastern State University, ran for the position vacated two years ago by his cousin, David Boren, a Democrat who is now president of the University of Oklahoma. James Inhofe, a Republican, had finished the last two years of David Boren’s term, and ran to keep the seat.
James Boren had some political experience, having served as chief of staff to former Texas Senator Ralph Yarborough and as a foreign-service officer.
But he is better known as a satirist. He once ran for President promising"bold, reckless, arrogant, ignorant leadership.”
Still, Mr. Boren ran a serious, though shoestring, campaign as the Democratic nominee, accepting no money from political-action committees. He was heavily outspent and did not receive an endorsement from his cousin.
Last week, Oklahoma’s voters sent Mr. Inhofe back to the Senate and Mr. Boren back to Northeastern State. The tally: 57 per cent to 40 per cent.
The Elections and Higher Education
