Congressional Communication: Content and Consequences

Přední strana obálky
University of Michigan Press, 10. 12. 2009 - Počet stran: 160
"Lipinski's impressive analysis of members' communications with constituents yields major insights about partisanship, effects on reelection prospects, and constituent evaluations."
--Bruce Oppenheimer, Vanderbilt University

"The communication between representatives and their constituents is where election strategy and policy explanations are merged and, until now, we have had only anecdotal evidence. Lipinski's book sheds light on this important part of American political life."
--David Brady, Stanford University


Congressional Communication challenges the notion that legislators "run against Congress" by routinely denigrating the institution. Using a unique, systematic analysis of the communication from members of Congress to their constituents over a five-year period, Daniel Lipinski challenges this notion, demonstrating key partisan differences in representatives' portrayals of congressional activities. While members of the majority party tend to report that the institution-and, hence, their party-is performing well, members of the minority party are more likely to accuse Congress of doing a poor job.

The findings in Congressional Communication offer the first strong empirical evidence from the electoral arena in support of controversial party government theories. Moving beyond previous studies that look only at legislators' messages, Lipinski's research also reveals the effects of these politically strategic claims on voters, whose interpretations don't necessarily bear out the legislators' intended effects.

Daniel Lipinski is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Tennessee.

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Obsah

Notes
125
Bibliography
135
Index
141
Autorská práva

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Oblíbené pasáže

Strana 125 - ... time other than in the performance of, or in connection with, the legislative, representative, and other official functions of such Member or the activities of such Member-elect as a Member-elect; or...
Strana 3 - As it is essential to liberty that the government in general should have a common interest with the people, so it is particularly essential that the branch of it under consideration should have an immediate dependence on and an intimate sympathy with the people.
Strana 10 - As used in this section, the term "mass mailing" means, with respect to a session of Congress, any mailing of newsletters or other pieces of mail with substantially identical content (whether such mail is deposited singly or in bulk, or at the same time or different times), totaling more than 500 pieces in that session, except that such term does not include any mailing — (i) of matter in direct response to a communication from a person to whom the matter is mailed; (ii) from...
Strana 4 - Nothing [had] prepared me to discover that each member of Congress polishes his or her individual reputation at the expense of the institutional reputation of Congress...
Strana 96 - ... President Clinton in the 1994 midterm election was amazing not only outside the beltway but also within, where, by some accounts, it reached the status of an official policy. "Acknowledging that the Democrats face a grim political environment this fall, President Clinton's pollster [Stanley Greenberg] is advising that those seeking re-election should emphasize their own records rather than link themselves too closely to Mr. Clinton or even their own party.
Strana 32 - The naming ritual described at the beginning of this chapter is a good example of a ritual of self-transformation that is not limited to healing.
Strana 126 - Orders are divided mto two sections. The first section is unlimited and is for any member who wants to speak for up to five minutes. The second section is comprised of two two-hour blocks, one for each party.
Strana 89 - Republicans taking control of the House for the first time in forty years caught almost everyone by surprise.
Strana 35 - TheissMorse claim that the public believes that "members are quickly corrupted by special interests and lobbyists, by the office perquisites they receive, and by the people who surround and indulge them," and "the various congressional scandals that hit the media simply provide proof that public judgment is correct
Strana 24 - arguably necessary condition ... in the partisan electoral-connection argument" is that "reelection seekers use their party labels and partisan voting records from the lawmaking arena when they compete in the electoral arena

Odkazy na tuto knihu

Journal of Political Science, Svazek 35

Zobrazení fragmentů - 2007

O autorovi (2009)

Daniel Lipinski is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Tennessee.

Bibliografické údaje