Challengers Competition And Reelection

Why do US Senators have a harder time winning re-election than members of the House of Representatives? This text argues that Senate challengers are more likely to be experienced politicians who wage intense, costly media campaigns than are those who take on House incumbents.

Ought judges be independent of democratic pressures, or should they be subjected to the preferences and approval of the electorate? In this book, Bonneau and Hall use empirical data to shed light on these normative questions and offer a coherent defense of judicial elections.

Pairing historical data analysis and original research with fundamental concepts of representation and responsibility, The Politics of Congressional Elections presents students with the tools to evaluate representative government, as well as their own role in the electoral process.

Uses empirical data to scrutinize whether representation has been diminished by keeping a ceiling on the number of seats available in the House and argues that it is the time for the House to be increased in order to better represent a rapidly growing country.

Governors in the United States are becoming prime policy makers in state and national politics. They preside over vast and increasingly important administrative structures through numerous appointments of key personnel and the management of growing budgets. Governors provide leadership for state legislatures by advocating their policy agendas, and by mobilizing public opinion and political resources. Through these roles, governors have far reaching influence in citizen's daily lives. This work examines these major political leaders by closely examining the careers of five recent governors (1960D2001): - Terry Sanford (1961D1965) - Robert (Bob) W. Scott (1969D1973) - James E. (Jim) Holshouser Jr. (1973D1977) - James G. (Jim) Martin (1985D1993) - James B. (Jim) Hunt Jr. (1977D1985; 1993D2001) ...and compares their performances in office with governors in other states. No other book has looked as closely at the persons who serve as governors during this time period.

Stephen K. Medvic’s Campaigns and Elections is a comprehensive yet compact core text that addresses two distinct but related aspects of American electoral democracy: the processes that constitute campaigns and elections, and the players who are involved. In addition to balanced coverage of process and actors, it gives equal billing to both campaigns and elections and covers contests for legislative and executive positions at the national, state, and local levels, including issue-oriented campaigns of note. The book opens by providing students with the conceptual distinctions between what happens in an election and the campaigning that precedes it. Significant attention is devoted to setting up the context for these campaigns and elections by covering the rules of the game in the American electoral system as well as aspects of election administration and the funding of elections. Then the book systematically covers the actors at every level—candidates and their organizations, parties, interest groups, the media, and voters—and the macro-level aspects of campaigns such as campaign strategy and determinants of election outcomes. The book concludes with a big-picture assessment of campaign ethics and implications of the "permanent campaign." New to the Fourth Edition: • Fully updated through the 2020 elections, looking ahead to the 2022 midterms • Covers the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the 2020 election as well as the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol • Adds new sections in Chapter 3 on election integrity and the assessment of election administration • Reviews recent Supreme Court cases on gerrymandering and faithless electors • Expands coverage of social media as a source of news, of the increasingly partisan nature of the media, and of the role of media fact-checking in campaigns and elections • Reorganizes the chapters on the various actors so that the chapter on candidates leads directly to the chapter on campaigns • Fully updates the resources listed at the end of each chapter

In developing Legislative Term Limits, the editor has included material that has explicit and testable models about the expected consequences of term limits that reflect Public Choice perspectives. This book contains the best efforts of economists and political scientists to predict the consequences of legislative term limits.

This book covers all elements of parties and the electoral process, including local, state, and national party organizations; American party history and party systems; state and local nominations; state and local elections; presidential nominations; and presidential elections. Separate chapters are devoted to the important subjects of the media in the electoral process and campaign finance. The role of political parties in representative democracy_and their contributions to it_are examined critically. This post-election update includes complete data from 2008 and an updated chapter on campaign finance.