David F. Damore

The Dynamics of Issue Ownership in Presidential Campaigns

This effort examines the dynamics of the agenda-setting process in presidential campaigns by assessing the conditions that motivate candidates to discuss issues associated with their opponent’s party. The article’s argument contends that occurrences of issue trespassing are a function of the context in which a campaign is occurring and factors stemming from the campaign process. The hypotheses are tested against data collected from all available campaign advertisements produced by major party candidates competing in the 1976 through 1996 presidential elections. The results of the logit analysis indicate that candidates’ decisions to address issues owned by their opponent’s party are a function of their competitive standing, their partisanship, the importance of an issue to the electorate, and the tone of their campaign messages.

The Dynamics of Racialized Media Coverage in Congressional Elections

Research examining press coverage of African-American candidates has put forth conflicting explanations to account for the use of race by the media in campaigns involving black politicians: the media act as racial arbitrators by limiting racial emphases; the media bring race to the forefront of campaigns by highlighting candidate race. In contrast, both phenomenon may occur simultaneously-i.e., media coverage of elections involving African-American candidates suppresses the use of race among the candidates themselves, but accents the race of black candidates and their constituents. Based on a content analysis of newspaper articles occurring during the 1990 and 1992 congressional election cycles, we find support for our racial dualism hypotheses, with the effect particularly strong in competitive biracial elections and in those contests occurring during the 1992 election cycle.

The Allocation of Party Controlled Campaign Resources in the House of Representatives, 1989-1996

Despite the well-documented decline of political parties in the electorate, the evidence shows that parties remain highly salient and visible within government, particularly in Congress, and the formal party organizations continue to play an active role in campaigns. Building on this evidence, we attempt to offer further insight into the goals and activities of contemporary American political parties by investigating the allocation of partycontrolled resources in congressional elections. In particular, we examine the resource allocation strategies employed by the Democratic and Republican parties congressional (the DCCC and the NRCC) and national (DNC and RNC) campaign committees to assess if these resources are used to enhance party support within Congress or are motivated strictly by electoral concerns. Via tobit analysis, we test our specification using data for challengers and incumbents of both parties from 1989-96. Our results suggest that these resources, particularly for the Republican party, are prompted by campaign-specific factors and are not used to facilitate party support within Congress.

Gender, Employment Status, and Abortion: A Longitudinal Analysis

Building upon extant literature, we examine the influence gender and employment status exert on abortion attitudes among the mass public. Specifically, we assess if men, employed women, and homemaker women view the abortion issue differently and if the same factors account for variation in each groups attitudes toward abortion. Analysis of General Social Survey data from 1973 to 2000 indicates that although homemaker women tend to be more “pro-life” than do men or working women, the attitudes of all 3 groups exhibit similar changes over time. In addition, our results suggest that the same variables account for variation in abortion attitudes for all 3 groups. Our results suggest that the causes and effects of abortion attitudes do not appear to be gender-specific, but rather are relatively uniform across genders and employment statuses.

Unhappy, Uninformed, or Uninterested? Understanding “None of the Above” Voting:

Elections send ambiguous signals to the political system, particularly when interpreting the meaning of various “nonvotes” (e.g., abstention, ballot spoiling, and roll-off). While a “none of the above” (NOTA) option may allow voters to better signal discontent, how NOTA voting is used is not well understood. The authors’ analysis of all races in Nevada, which has allowed for NOTA voting since 1976, suggests that NOTA voting is consistent with protest voting and limited information. Thus, while NOTA voting can be a less ambiguous signal of discontent than other nonvotes, the practice of NOTA voting is less clear.

Agenda Setting by Direct Democracy: Comparing the Initiative and the Referendum

Using research on the initiative as a point of comparison, we consider how frequently and for what ends state legislators use the referendum. Akin to initiative use, we find that legislators are constrained by procedural hurdles in their ability to place referendums on the ballot. However, in contrast to research on the initiative, which emphasizes the role of interest groups as the drivers of initiatives, our analysis suggests that referendum use is motivated by partisan legislative majorities seeking to achieve a mix of political and policy goals.

Nevada Senate Race: The Reid Machine’s Last Stand

The 2016 U.S. Senate race between Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto and Republican Joe Heck was a proxy war between groups and interests on the left and right that generated over

Candidate Strategy and the Decision to Go Negative

120 million in campaign spending. However, Cortez Masto’s narrow victory resulted from her overwhelming support in the Latino heavy precincts of East Las Vegas that had been canvassed relentlessly by “The Reid Machine”–the coalition of progressive interest groups, organized labor, and the Nevada Democratic Party that had been created and sustained by the retiring U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. In an otherwise disappointing election cycle for the Democrats, Nevada was perhaps the lone bright spot as Democrats were victorious up and down the ticket in the Silver State.