news-record.com

When Jon Hardister filed to run for a seat in the N.C. House of Representatives last week, he faced a number of disadvantages right off the bat.

The Greensboro resident is only 27 and a first-time Republican candidate in District 57, where the incumbent Democrat, Pricey Harrison, is more experienced, better known and very well funded.

Hardister's first campaign-finance report to the N.C. State Board of Elections showed he had received $400 in contributions. Harrison's most recent report indicated she had more than $108,000 in her campaign fund at the beginning of 2010.

Newcomers to politics should be welcomed for the energy and fresh ideas they can bring. Hardister deserves credit for taking on a tough challenge. No one was willing to run against Harrison in 2008. She's become an effective legislator in her three terms in Raleigh, and she's been able to raise and spend a lot of campaign money, including more than $450,000 in 2004 when she unseated then-incumbent Republican Joanne Bowie, and about $170,000 in 2006.

It often requires massive fundraising for a challenger to mount a successful campaign against a sitting legislator. Once in office, most lawmakers are able to keep raising enough money to discourage opponents. As a result, incumbents are rarely defeated.

Several other local legislators claim healthy campaign accounts, including Sen. Phil Berger, an Eden Republican, $103,000; Sen. Don Vaughan, a Greensboro Democrat, $44,000; and Sen. Katie Dorsett, a Democrat from Greensboro, $22,000. Some have much less, such as Greensboro Reps. Maggie Jeffus, a Democrat, $9,400; Alma Adams, a Democrat, $2,700; John Blust, a Republican, $750; and Earl Jones, a Democrat, $2,300.

Harrison almost apologizes for raising so much campaign money, a process she calls "stressful, unpleasant and time-consuming." She's a proponent of public financing, which she says would level the playing field and encourage more people to run.

Hardister, in contrast, opposes public funding, which he says forces taxpayers to support candidates they might not like. "I'll try to raise as much money as I can," he said, while admitting he'll probably come nowhere near catching up with Harrison.

While it may not be possible to avoid financial mismatches in elections, voters do have the right to see how much money candidates have, where it comes from and how they spend it. Reports are posted at the State Board of Elections Web site.

Hardister says he'll rely on "a strong grass-roots campaign, phone calls, door-to-door. A lot of that comes down to volunteers."

Harrison, too, plans to knock on doors during her campaign. In that kind of race, the candidate willing to walk through more neighborhoods can make an impression on voters at little or no cost.

A candidate might be outspent, but it's his own fault if he's outworked.