Voices of the People: Age and Voting Behavior
The age of the voter is often an indication of voting behavior. One of the biggest changes in American politics in the last decades is the political activism of elderly Young voters are much less likely to vote than older people, certainly a change ...
Candidates and Campaigns: Paths to Political Office
There are two paths to public office, coming up through the party ranks or becoming an entrepreneur and raising campaign funds yourself. One of the most important assets in electoral politics is positive name recognition. This may come from a family...
Candidates and Campaigns: Mass-Marketing of Politics
In the past, party rallies and door-to-door canvassing could be handled by volunteers. Today's media-based campaigns need paid specialists, another reason today's campaigns are so expensive. Karen Paget talks about her work on the Dukakis campaign i...
Candidates and Campaigns: Contrast Between Early Congressmen and Today's Legislators
We need politicians; it is the way our democracy works. At the beginning of the republic people went to Congress with the idea of serving one term and then going home. This self-imposed term limit may seem admirable, but it did not allow people the ...
Candidates and Campaigns: Campaign Finance: Laws and Loopholes
The excessive amounts of money invested in political campaigns has resulted in demands for reform. Individual and party contributions to campaigns are limited by law. These hard money contributions can be spent any way the candidates choose. There i...
Candidates and Campaigns: Campaign Finance: Call for Reform
Campaign finance reform is difficult to achieve because the people who must vote to change the system are its chief beneficiaries, the incumbent members of Congress. In addition the two political parties differ on what reform means. The Supreme Cour...
The First Branch: Maintaining a Presence in Home District
In addition to their day-to-day responsibilities in the nation's capitol, Representatives need to maintain a presence in their home districts. Loretta Sanchez, California representative, talks about how she maintains a presence on both coasts.
The Fourth Estate: Winning the News Game
Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, reporters and cameras converge on late-breaking news events with one thought in mind: winning the news game. In the 1950s and 1960s, most people's access to political information came from three television...
Frames of Reference: Party Affiliation and Political Attitudes
The clearest line of demarcation in the political arena exists between the two major political parties. Ethnic and socioeconomic characteristics often lead people to choose one party over another. People tend to become more stably partisan the older...