Charlie Stenholm	54%
Rudy Izzard	46%

In one of the most competitive congressional races in Texas, the League of Conservation Voters Action Fund worked hard to get the message out to conservation-minded voters about Stenholm's anti-environment voting record. LCV Action Fund's campaign against Stenholm focused on his vote to allow radioactive waste to be dumped in Texas and proved a defining issue in the race; unfortunately, it wasn't enough to match the special interest money and his base of supporters who turned out strongly at the polls. LCVAF aimed to make the margin of difference, but fell short of knocking off this ten-term incumbent with the worst environmental record of any non-freshman Democrat in the House, who voted just 15 percent of the time in favor of clean water, clean air and other health protections. LCV Action Fund's earned and paid media campaign clearly kept Stenholm on the defensive, and LCV will continue to hold him accountable for future votes in Congress.

Key Polling Results: 

• Although Stenholm won, an overwhelming majority of voters, 70 percent, were able to recall seeing LCVAF's ad against Stenholm when prompted and clearly responded to these issues.

• Voters gave conservation issues high rankings as good reasons to vote against Stenholm. The fact that Stenholm received special interest PAC contributions from corporations that lobby to weaken public health protections for water and air tied for the number one reason to vote against Stenholm, with 66 percent. The number two reason, at 50 percent, was that Stenholm voted to allow transportation of nuclear waste through the district. Voting to weaken laws that protect drinking water and voting for a nuclear waste storage agreement to make Texas a dumping ground for the nation's nuclear waste were the third and fourth reasons to vote against Stenholm, with 45 percent and 40 percent, respectively.

Dirty Dozen Campaign Activities: 

Total budget: $162,000. Directed by a full-time organizer in Granbury, LCVAF's Dirty Dozen campaign against Charlie Stenholm masterfully wove a paid media campaign with earned media. Our paid media program highlighted Stenholm's vote to allow nuclear waste to be dumped in Texas. Trucks carrying radioactive waste would travel through the heart of his district along I-20.

Paid media campaign: Over three weeks, 3237 broadcast and cable TV ads aired in Abilene and western Metroplex counties surrounding Dallas/Fort Worth, and 701 radio ads aired on Abilene and Fort Worth radio. The TV and radio ads were supplemented by newspaper advertisements in western Metroplex county papers for several weeks.

Earned media campaign: LCV's campaign manager, a Texas native, released excerpts from our August poll to the media; unveiled our paid advertising, and named Stenholm the national "Dirty Money" champion for taking more Polluter-PAC money than any other member in the U.S. House. LCVAF's Texas manager kept a dialogue in the media about Stenholm's nuclear waste vote, engaging him in a public debate over waste transportation safety concerns, the level of public opposition to his vote, and the accuracy of LCV's ad. As part of the campaign, our manager also conducted a media tour with Betsy Loyless, LCV political director, to release both the TV and radio spots to local Abilene and Metroplex media.