C. Lawrence Evans

Testing the Converse Partisanship Model with New Electorates

Converse proposed a model drawing on an individuals experience with the vote and socialization by the father to explain the strength of political partisanship. This experience-based model, despite varied criticisms, has gained wide acceptance. By focusing on cases in which political experience and age are not collinear, this article finds that the Converse model fails to account for the strength of partisanship found among new electorates, thereby raising doubts about the model in general.

The Strategic Context of Congressional Party Leadership

This article presents an argument that the dominant scholarly approach to studying congressional party leadership&generally referred to as principal-agent theory&should be redirected to better account for the strategic context within which leaders operate. We begin with a discussion of six related themes, which we believe capture major limitations in existing leadership studies. To further our argument, we then analyze the role of party leadership on two recent legislative initiatives&the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (S. 652) and the Kennedy-Kassebaum Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (H.R. 3103). Based on interviews with top leadership and committee staff, we explore in depth the strategies employed by House and Senate party leaders at each stage of the legislative process on these measures. We conclude with summary observations about the importance of developing a fully strategic theory of congressional party leadership, especially for analyzing leadership behavior within the...

Congressional Cohorts: The House Republican Class of 2010

Abstract As a result of its size and close ties to the Tea Party movement, the freshman cohort of House Republicans elected in 2010 had a significant impact on the chamber. Compared to other Republicans, the districts the freshmen represented did not tilt more toward the GOP or the Tea Party, nor was their roll call ideology during 2011–2012 statistically distinguishable from that of their more senior colleagues. For votes that were Tea Party priorities, however, the effects of freshman status were often large. And the most consequential impact of the class was over party strategy and agenda. The role played by the 2010 House freshmen has implications for how we should think about party influence in Congress.

The New Democratic Majority in Congress: Preferences, Structure, and Bargaining

This paper begins by exploring the impact of the 2006 midterm elections on the distribution of policy preferences within the U.S. House and Senate during the 110th Congress. We then consider the consequences of the new political configuration in Washington for the distribution of power between party leaders and the committee systems in both chambers, the patterns of bargaining that will occur between congressional Democrats and the Bush White House, and the likely contents of legislative outcomes during 2007-08.

Notes From The Book Review Editor

Binder, Sarah A., and Steven S. Smith. Politics or Principle: Filibustering in the United States Senate. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1996. Pp. xvi, 247.

Congress under fire : reform politics and the Republican majority

38.95 hardbound,

Legislative Structure: Rules, Precedents, and Jurisdictions

16.95 softbound. DeGregorio, Christina A. Network of Champions: Leadership, Access, and Advocacy in the U.S. House of Representatives. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1997. Pp. xii, 185.

The Power of Subcommittees

39.50 hardbound. Frantzich, Stephen and John Sullivan. The C-SPAN Revolution. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996. Pp. xiv, 433.

Age and Turnout Among the Newly Enfranchised: Life Cycle versus Experience Effects*

24.95 hardbound. Rozell, Mark J. In Contempt of Congress: Postwar Press Coverage on Capitol Hill. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1996. Pp. ix, 144.

Participation and Policy Making in Senate Committees

49.95 hardbound. Gerhardt, Michael J. The Federal Impeachment Process: A Constitutional and Historical Analysis. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996. Pp. xiii, 233.