Documentary on Congress and the Cliff

Watch Boehner: "There Was No one More Disappointed Than I Was" on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

NYT: Missouree? Missouruh? To Be Politic, Say Both

Our class discussion on hill style vs. home style reminded me of an article published in the New York Times last fall during the election. We discussed highlighting individuals with different accents in campaign ads, but in Missouri, politicians themselves take on different pronunciations of words depending on where they are campaigning:

The question is not what position to take on abortion, economic stimulus or health care, though those issues have all proved thorny enough. It is how to pronounce the state name: “Missouree” or “Missouruh.”

Elections and Home Style

• You gotta love a candidate named Ted Yoho
• Reelection Rates through 2010
• Reelection rates in 2012
• Senate coattails in 2012?
• Redistricting:  was 2012 a case of deliberate gerrymandering or unintentionial gerrymandering?
• Demographics of the vote
• Some ads
• Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and local accents
• Allen West (R-FL) and contrast
• Kristi Noem (R-SD) and her grandmother
• Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) and constituent service

Hill Style:  John McCain takes on his former friend in 2013:


Home Style:  John McCain and little old ladies in 1993:

Campaign Finance

Here is the most cogent explanation of super PACs:

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Here is the most cogent explanation of 501(c)(4):

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Congressional Elections I

• Reelection Rates through 2010
• Reelection rates in 2012
• Senate coattails in 2012?
• Redistricting:  was 2012 a case of deliberate gerrymandering or unintentionial gerrymandering?
• Contribution limits
• The most Machiavellian ad of 2012
• The second most Machiavellian ad of 2012

Intraparty Tensions

At The New York Times, Jennifer Steinhauer writes on the declining clubbiness of the Senate:

The willingness of Republicans to skewer one of their own became increasingly apparent on Friday as more and more members of the party peeled away from Mr. Hagel, President Obama’s nominee for secretary of defense, saying they would not vote to confirm him after Mr. Hagel melted like chocolate on a dashboard under combative questioning from Republicans.
...
There were other moments as well. Earlier in the week, Senator David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana, took to talk radio to refer to a Republican colleague, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, as “amazingly naïve” for his proposals to overhaul the nation’s immigration system. Mr. Rubio did not choose to respond or question the judgment of Mr. Vitter, whose phone number once appeared in a client list of a Washington madam.

As Politico reports, however, there was a response from somebody on Team Rubio:

Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) associates, furious about fellow Republican Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) calling the Floridian “nuts” and “naïve” over his immigration reform efforts, are hitting Vitter where it hurts.

“David Vitter has done some nuttier things in his life,” a source close to Rubio wrote in an unsolicited email to POLITICO.

That’s a not-at-all subtle reference to Vitter’s 2007 admission that his phone number appeared on a client list of a Washington, D.C. madam. A New Orleans-based prostitute and madam have also, separately, accused Vitter of being a client, but he has denied those charges.

Asked for comment about the jab, Vitter’s press secretary didn’t respond to two emails. A receptionist at Vitter’s Washington office said the press staffer “must be away from his desk.”

Meanwhile, Politico also reports that the president has long frustrated Hill Democrats:

President Barack Obama and his top advisers have declared that they’re done playing “the inside game” in Washington, but one crucial Democratic constituency — his former colleagues in Congress — say the president shouldn’t deep-six a strategy that he only half-heartedly tried in his first term.

As Obama prepares an aggressive public lobbying campaign for his ambitious second-term agenda, Democrats on Capitol Hill are bluntly warning him that he has to do more to engage them if he expects his congressional allies to take a series of politically tough votes.

Interviews with dozens of members of Congress and senior aides reveal frustration and in some cases exasperation that a president who came from the Senate has no apparent appetite for cultivating relationships on Capitol Hill.

These Democrats say they almost never hear from Obama personally, haven’t been to the White House since Rahm Emanuel was still chief of staff and are mystified that the president passed over a popular legislative affairs aide for the job as top congressional liaison. One high-profile Democrat who recently spoke to a group of Hill Democrats came away stunned at their anger toward a president they hardly know.

First Essay Assignment

Choose one:

• Pick any House seat that changed party hands in 2012. Explain the outcome, with reference to candidates, the district’s characteristics, and the larger political climate. Is the same party likely to hold the seat in 2014? 
• Compare and contrast the “Hill styles” and “home styles” of two senators from any state. Explain the key similarities and differences. 
• Pick any of the four party leaders (Boehner, Pelosi, Reid, McConnell) and evaluate that leader’s performance in 2012. That is, what were the leader’s main political and policy goals for the year, and how well did the leader achieve them in light of the relevant resources and constraints? 

Essays should reflect an understanding of class readings and discussions. Many resources, including CQ Weekly and Politics in America are at http://library.cqpress.com. Also go to the library and see The Almanac of American Politics. You should check other sources as well. See:

http://www.claremontmckenna.edu/pages/faculty/JPitney/elect.htm
http://www.claremontmckenna.edu/pages/faculty/JPitney/dempub.html
http://www.claremontmckenna.edu/pages/faculty/JPitney/congress.html

• Essays should be typed, stapled, double-spaced, and no more than four pages long. I will not read past the fourth page. 
• Put your name on a cover sheet. Do not identify yourself on the text pages. 
• Cite your sources. You may use either endnotes or parenthetical references to a bibliography. In either case, put your documentation in a standard format (e.g., Turabian or Chicago Manual of Style). 
• Watch your spelling, grammar, diction, and punctuation. Errors will count against you. Return essays by the start of class, Wednesday, February 13. Papers will drop one gradepoint for one day’s lateness, a full letter grade after that.