Dualites: Two Congresses, Two Chambers, Two Parties

  For Monday:

• Davidson, ch. 2

Some basics:

• Congressional pay and benefits
• Congressional staff titles
• Congressional staff salaries (find individuals here)

Two Congresses

• Article I of the Constitution and lawmaking
• Burke's speech to the electors of Bristol (Davidson, p. 6-7)
• Delegate v. Trustee

Demographics:

• Descriptive representation
• Overview
• Graphics
• Partisan demographic divide

Home style

"What you have to understand about my people is that they are a noble people. Humility is their form of pride. It is their strength; it is their weakness. And if you can humble yourself before them they will do anything you ask."  -- Frank Underwood

In Home Style, members try to convey

• Qualification
• Identification
• Empathy

USA Style

House-Senate differences

One major difference between the chambers is that few House members run for president, and seldom get far when they do. But a fairly large fraction of senators have gone for the White House:

• Michael Bennet (D-CO), 2020
• Cory Booker (D-NJ) 2020
• Ted Cruz (R-TX) 2016
• Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) 2020
• Lindsey Graham (R-SC) 2016
• Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) 2020
• Rand Paul (R-KY) 2016
• Mitt Romney (R-UT), 2008, 2012
• Marco Rubio (R-FL) 2016
• Bernard Sanders (I-VT) 2016, 2020
• Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), 2020

In the House, see

• Seth Moulton (D-MA), 2020
• Tim Ryan (D-OH), 2020
• Eric Swalwell (D-CA) 2020

Four Strategic Postures Since 2000 (House, by election year) 

                    Majority                          Minority 

In Party        Dems 08, 20                 GOP 06, 18

                    GOP 00, 02, 04, 16       Dem 10,12,14

           

Out Party     GOP 10,12,14              GOP 08, 20

                    Dem 06, 18                   Dem 00, 02, 04, 16

And there are even more flavors, as Matt Glassman points out.