Extremism of Party Activists

Abstract

In the 104th Congress (1995–6), the Oregon delegation was, perhaps, the most powerful state delegation in the Senate. Senator Mark Hatfield, who was first elected in 1966, chaired the Appropriations Committee. His colleague, Senator Bob Packwood, who entered the Senate two years after Hatfield, chaired the Finance Committee. Although Oregon had voted for Democratic presidential candidates in every election between 1988 and 2004, Democrats could not defeat these long-serving moderate Republicans, though both senators faced increasingly spirited contests.