House, Senate Candidate Pool Grows from Sour Mood

June 3, 2010 -- A growing number of Americans are doing more than complaining about politics as usual: They're taking matters into their own hands and running for office.

A USA TODAY analysis of 33 state primary elections finds a 35% increase over 2008 in the number of Republicans and Democrats running for House and Senate seats this year.

The uptick in candidates, many of them political novices, corresponds with an anti-incumbent sentiment sweeping across the country that has claimed the congressional careers of veteran lawmakers such as Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, and Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa.

"The anger is universal, border to border," said Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C., who didn't have a primary election for 26 years until this year, when he fended off five challengers for the GOP nomination. "I just don't think it's logical to 'get rid of all of the bums.' "

Sixty-six people ran for congressional seats in North Carolina's primary May 4, up from 31 two years ago.

The trend throws added uncertainty into the political landscape as the November general election approaches. Non-partisan political observers such as The Cook Political Report predict dozens of seats — most of them held by Democrats — are in danger, leaving control of Congress as well as President Obama's legislative agenda in flux.

David Rohde, a political scientist at Duke University, said many challengers smell blood for the first time since Democrats reclaimed control of Congress in 2006 by winning dozens of conservative districts and then expanded their reach in 2008.

But, he said, the likelihood that a few fresh faces will trigger systemic change is dubious. New lawmakers confront a power structure in Washington that rewards seniority — often frustrating members who campaigned on reform.

"A lot of people are being drawn in, and a lot of people are going to be disappointed," Rohde said. "They want huge changes, and this system is not designed to produce huge changes."

Steve Southerland, one of five Republicans running for a House seat in Florida's Panhandle, doesn't see it that way. Southerland, a funeral home business owner, said he will stand up for voters frustrated with government regulation and taxation. "America is waking up," he said.