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Some observers have argued that the Democratic Party is making a strategic mistake by not appealing to American voters with progressive religious language. Could such a strategy be beneficial for the Democrats? In this paper, I examine the partisan leanings and recent voting behavior of individuals at the mass level who might be counted as potential allies of a resurgent Protestant left. Despite the existence of a meaningful network of elite-level organizations, the extent to which people at the mass level might identify with a Protestant left is unclear. Who might support a Protestant left within the mass public, and what are their personal political priorities? Using available data sources, including the National Election Studies and the General Social Survey, I explore how we might tease potential Protestant left identifiers out of the general population. Is there a potentially unified mass base for a resurgent Protestant left? We know that mainline Protestants have been leaning in a more Democratic direction in recent election years. Is it the case that mass-level Protestant left identifiers could be ripe for an electoral realignment of the sort that transformed evangelical Protestants in the 1980s? ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does district competitiveness cause members of Congress to change their rollcall voting behavior? Ansolabehere et al. (2001) find that congressional races where the candidates fought tough primaries tend are less polarized than if both candidates won uncompetitive primaries. However, Burden (2004) shows the exact opposite: competitive primaries drive Republican and Democratic candidates further apart on the ideological spectrum. Thus, the effect of primary competitiveness on ideological extremism is still misunderstood. With general election competitiveness, there is a larger consensus showing that competitiveness has a moderating effect on candidate ideology.Whereas prior research treats competitiveness in these two electoral settings as separate entities, we model "district competitiveness" as the product of primary and general election competitiveness. We hypothesize that competitive primaries absent competitive general elections will push candidates away from the middle. Similarly, competitive general elections absent competitive primaries should pull candidates towards the middle. Most interesting theoretically are those cases in which a) neither primary nor general election is competitive, or b) both primary and general election are competitive. We intend to show that the dynamics underlying district competitiveness are more complicated than previously shown and might explain the discrepancies in the literature. We further expect open and closed primaries to pull candidates in different directions.We analyze election data from 1990-2004 and examine every congressional race during that time period in a selected number of states. Our paper should be of particular interest to those who argue that uncompetitive elections are a primary cause of polarization in Congress. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past forty years, the use of discriminatory voting devices such as poll-taxes and literacy tests have been completely eliminated, voter registration and participation among African-Americans and other ethnic minorities have dramatically increased, and the Black Caucus has risen to a position of marked prominence in the U.S. House, all of which is attributable, at least in part, to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.Yet the Constitution Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives began hearings in October 2005 on the renewal of Sections four and five of the VRA which are not scheduled to expire until 2007. Why so early? The answer comes as another question: how can the VRA be altered to meet the voting rights challenges of the twenty-first century, and pass judicial scrutiny?This paper will attempt to address this question in three parts: Part I will briefly sketch the history of the VRA, with particular attention to the debate in Congress leading up to the 1982 renewal of the Act and subsequent U.S. Supreme Court decisions which have impacted the effectiveness of Sections four and five. Part II will then analyze the solution to the problem as offered by J. Gerald Hebert, Executive Director of the Campaign Legal Center and former Section Chief of the Voting Rights Section of the Department of Justice. Part III will then discuss additional changes which the author believes would augment the effectiveness of the Mr. Hebert's proposal. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Common knowledge states that a lack of voter confidence in the overall membership of Congress should result in a decline in voter support for the voter's particular incumbent. However, little empirical evidence has been offered to support this assertion. Therefore, this paper examines this idea more closely by answering the question: What effect does voter confidence in the overall membership of Congress have on the electoral success of individual House incumbents? In doing so, constituent confidence in the entire membership of Congress is placed in models of electoral success alongside measures of individual incumbent quality to determine their relative effects. Incumbent electoral success at different stages of the electoral process is operationalized using four measures of electoral success: running unopposed in the primary election, the proportion of the vote received in the primary election, challenger spending in the general election, and the proportion of the vote received in the general election. In this preliminary study, only four southern states are under analysis: Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Using one logit regression and three separate ordinary least square regressions, it is found that in elections from 1986 to 2002, both individual incumbent quality and constituent confidence in Congress were significant in determining the overall electoral success of House incumbents. However, the major effect of each of these determinants occurred at different stages of the electoral process. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can engaging in politics online increase political participation? Using a unique panel study from the 2008 election, we examine whether increasing online engagement increased the likelihood of voting in the primaries, voting in the general election, and participating in other traditional forms of participation. Our change in online engagement measure is a new, robust way of investigating the internet's effect on political participation by tracking change over the course of an entire election. Since Obama's campaign heavily focused on the internet, we also test whether increased online engagement increased the likelihood of voting for him. We find that increased online engagement increased the likelihood of voting in the general election and of voting specifically for Obama. Increased online engagement also increases the likelihood of participating in our other measures of participation, but does not increase the likelihood of participating in the primary/caucus process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on a study related to the role of voting in election which helps in establishing stability of political party in the U.S. It informs about the explanation of Michigan model in order to address concern towards party identification. It reports that identification of political party majorily correlated with vote choice and this increases its stability with age.

This research focuses on the relationship between state party systems and the electoral administration system used in the state. Using a unique data set of 2,000 voters from the 2008 Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES), this research examines the relationship between the type of voting system used by a state and the political characteristics of the state. The electoral system--including ballot and machine type--is matched to the voters from each state in the CCES sample. The data set provides insights into the kind of electoral system used in each state and its ability to produce satisfaction among the voters who use the system. The research finds considerable variation across states in ballot length, type, format, and structure. These variables in turn produce differences in voter satisfaction with the voting process. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the "Two Faces of Issue Voting" (1980), Carmines and Stimson argue that some issues are inherently "easy" and are understood by the public at an emotional, "gut" level, while other issues are intrinsically "hard" and require greater political sophistication and interest to process. This theory is intuitively appealing and widely cited in the American political behavior literature. Yet "easy" issues have been interpreted differently by various scholars, so how can we tell which are "easy" issues? Using survey data over time, I explore different measures of easiness, beginning with a traditional measure (connection to the vote) and then moving to other potential indicators of easy issues, examining the role of core values and group affect in conditioning issue easiness. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Implicit in the gender, religion, and race literatures is the notion that identity figures prominently in models of political behavior, dictating a wide range of opinions, attitudes, and beliefs about politics. Political efficacy also contributes independently to individual political behavior, playing a significant role in determining levels of political engagement. While studies of identity and politics conceptualize political behavior as inherently a collective enterprise, measures of political efficacy maintain a myopic vision of political engagement. This study attempts to reconcile this incongruity in two ways: it advances a theory of identity and political engagement, and develops a measure of identity-based political efficacy. Based on a survey of a representative sample of Americans, this study shows that, after controlling for identity-based political efficacy, traditional measures of political efficacy become insignificant. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voters are influenced by their own preferences as well as the electoral context in which they make decisions. This study will examine contextual reasons why some voters choose to support third party candidates in US Congressional elections, as well as why some districts allocate a larger share of their votes to these candidates than other districts.The district level models will include measures of the propensity of a constituency to allocate votes to third party candidates: whether the previous occupant of the office was a member of a third party, and if so, the margin of his/her victory in the previous election. Due to the rate of incumbent success in Congressional elections (Mayhew 1974), the type of election, open seat or incumbent-challenger, will be taken into account as well. The individual level models will also take these contextual factors into account to demonstrate their impact on the voter's decision, but will also examine the impact of other independent variables. The analysis that determines whether individuals vote for third party candidates will be heavily influenced by Rosenstone, Behr, and Lazarus (1996). With a few exceptions, the same independent variables will be included in my micro-level analyses that were included in their vote choice model (chapter 6). Attitudinal variables that are included in the micro level analysis measure the importance of issues to respondents as well as their assessments of major party candidates. The same cohort and demographic variables that were used by Rosenstone, Behr, and Lazarus are also included. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does voting in public increase or depress turnout? We present a theory of the effect of social pressure on voter turnout, arguing that both social costs and social benefits can affect individual behavior. We test our theory by conducting a randomized field experiment during the 2008 Iowa Democratic presidential caucus, sending mailers to registered Democrats suggesting different reasons for voting. We include three treatments: (1) one telling citizens of the date, time, and location of the caucus; (2) one telling citizens the caucus is a public meeting where neighbors and friends will be attending; and (3) one telling citizens that the caucus does not have a secret ballot and that their neighbors and friends will be attending. We find that citizens are more likely to vote when information costs are reduced and when they are told the caucus is a public meeting. However, we find that turnout is reduced when citizens are told their vote choices must be revealed to their neighbors. To our knowledge, this is the first field experiment where a treatment has resulted in suppression of the vote relative to other treatment effects. These findings provide insights into individual behavior in a social context, a rejection of one explanation for heavy voter turnout in 19th century America, and practical insights for campaigns interested in mobilizing voters to presidential caucuses. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much has been written on religion and the presidency, yet precious little is scholarly work has been done, especially when compared to the growing literature on religion and Congress as well as religion and voting behavior (See Fowler et. al. 1999 Religion and Politics in America: Faith, Culture, and Strategic Choices; Green et. al. 1996 Religion and the Culture Wars: Dispatches from the Front; Wald 2003 Religion and Politics in the United States). Since Robert Bellah's articulation of American Civil Religion and the president's role as priest and prophet in Civil Religion in America (1974), it has been clear that presidents must consider the role religion will play in their conduct and policies, particularly given the religious character of the nation. Here a typology is developed which examines four distinct religious roles presidents take based on the salience of religion in their personal and public lives. Personal religious salience is examined using three indicators, commonly employed in the study of religion and voting behavior, including religious belief, belonging, and behavior. Concurrently, the salience of religion in a president's public life is scrutinized by investigating the extent to which religion is manifest in the construction of his (and someday her) policy views, approach to church and state relations, articulation of civil religion, and reliance upon religion as a foundation for his public character. Archetypes are used to illustrate each of the presidential typologies. Finally, I discuss the relationship between presidents' religious types and their leadership styles, policy orientations, and political skills. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the impact of legislative extremism on contestation and vote share in the U.S. Studies indicate that incumbent ideological extremity varies across members. The authors claim that increased incumbent ideological extremity does increase the possibility of contestation and produce smaller vote shares for members coming from moderate districts. However, the increased incumbent ideological extremity decreases the possibility of contestation and increases vote shares for members from ideologically extreme districts.

The article examines the impact of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) on the core demographic characteristics of voter registration in the U.S. A brief description of the voting process in the country is presented, along with the key provisions of the NVRA. Advocates of the NVRA believed that lowering the barriers to voter registration would increase the number of eligible citizens and the diversity of the voting pool. The NVRA has raised the number of registered citizens and the percentage of the voting population.

In recent decades, a majority of states have instituted some form of early or convenience voting, whether in person or through the mail. With availability of these options, the cost to citizens of participating in elections has invariably declined, which would lead us to expect that turnout should therefore increase. It is still not clear, however, whether the expansion of the opportunity to vote has actually increased participation, and if so, for whom. Using 2004 American National Elections Studies data, as well as information about the activities of the Bush and Kerry campaigns in each state, we examine whether the institution of these alternatives does in fact increase the chances that an individual will turn out to vote in presidential elections, either directly or in combination with activities of the campaigns. Overall, we find no main effect for the availability of any form of early or convenience voting on the probability that an individual will vote. We do, however, find that in person early voting, when combined with television advertising by the campaigns, can increase the chances that individuals who are otherwise least likely to vote will take part in the election. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the impact of the limited vote/limited nomination system in the U.S. It has been observed that the system being used in Connecticut improves the role of the local party caucus while minimizing the role of the voter in the selection of representatives. In the democratic process, the structure of a government's electoral system plays a significant role. The choice of electoral systems for legislatures at all levels of government support the single-member plurality (SMP) districts.

The research question that guides this project is what influences vote preference amongnonpartisan Latinos in presidential elections. Data from the 2006 Latino National Survey(N=8634) will be used to explore hypotheses that bear vote preference, drawn from twomutually overlapping theories, spatial proximity and retrospective evaluation. Latinosare numerically the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States, and they reside inbattleground states. Preliminary findings suggest that nonpartisan Latinos' vote preferences are stronglyassociated with individual perceptions of the incumbent's performance as president, inaddition to evaluations of the national economy. These results suggest that issues linkedto moral concerns play a part in nonpartisan vote preferences, associations are weak.Concerns about immigration, the war in Iraq, and healthcare were less influential in votepreference. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze the roll-call vote on Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Defense and for the Reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan for Fiscal Year 2004. We hypothesize that evangelical Protestants were more likely to support funding for the war in Iraq due to the conviction that U.S. military involvement in the Middle East is warranted as part of an eschatological worldview that sees the War on Terror as part of an end-times scenario. Evangelical Protestants also are likely to see the Iraq War as part of a U.S. strategy to support Israel. Similarly, we expect Jewish representatives to be more supportive of Iraq War funding than some other religious groups because of the view that terrorism caused by Islamic extremists is particularly likely to affect Israel and therefore should be preempted when possible. We use the religious tradition schema employed by Steensland et al. (2000) to categorize representatives into religious groups. We also control for variables such as political party that are central to any roll-call vote analysis and we also control for other variables such as gender and region of the country represented that have been shown to be important in voting on international affairs. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes factors that influenced the foreign policy voting record of members of the House of Representatives and the Senate during the Clinton and Bush administrations. Specifically, we consider whether constituency factors, such as district/state ideology, unemployment, income, and minority representation influenced a representative's support for President Clinton's and Bush's foreign aid initiatives. Using a national data set consisting of partisan and constituency information for members of the House of Representatives and the Senate for the years 1993 through 2006, we find that both political and constituency factors influenced a member's decision to support Clinton and Bush in the realm of foreign policy. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has suggested that a substantial number of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals in the United States have been victims of violence, harassment, and discrimination. This research seeks to examine the effects of such discrimination on the political behavior of the LGBTQ population. A targeted online survey of the national LGBTQ population, conducted in 2007 and 2008, reconfirms that a large proportion of LGBTQ individuals have experienced at least one form of discrimination due to their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. This research finds that those LGBTQ individuals who have experienced discrimination are much more likely to be active in various modes of political activity including voting behavior. Discussion of the results and recommendations for future research are included. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Chen and Niou's 2005 article "Term Limits as a Response to Incumbency Advantage," they argue that even if term limits do not potentially cause much partisan change, they are likely to produce legislators that are closer to the median voters in their districts than in situations where term limits do not apply. I aim to provide an empirical test of their hypothesis, and perhaps even broach a test of the whole theory behind term limits. Louisiana just completed its first election cycle with term limits in place, in some cases with legislators of over 30 years experience being forced out of their current offices. Term limits theory argues deviance occurs between long-term representatives and districts. If both these theories are correct, limited legislators' replacements ought to vote differently than they, and perhaps even from incumbents not yet subject to term limits. For the past few years I have complied voting scorecards for members of the Louisiana Legislature. These data could be used to the theory behind term limits is correct. And if the other theory is correct, then scorecards will pick up that replacements will vote differently. Scorecards comparing old members to new can pick up aggregate change to suggest that one or both of these theories are not empirically verified. Without going into too much detail, a number of other things can be investigated to filter other effects, such as registration and 2008 voting in national elections can to establish baseline district preferences, as well as longitudinal comparisons. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voting participation has long been a focus of American democratic theories. Putnam (2000) provided a sociological perspective, while Verba et. al. (1995) and traditional literature on political participation emphasized the political and economic perspectives. Based on Putnam's social capital thesis, it is important to look at an individual's social network. If the network is broken, so is the individual's drive to participate. From the traditional voting literature, however, one needs to focus more on "human capital" (SES) and "political capital" (e.g., parties and interest groups, and racial group as mobilizing political units). We test these hypotheses based on human capital variables and social capital variables, in addition to other controls such as age, internet usage, gender and immigration status. We test both between group differences and within-group differences with GSS data which provides a national sample for racial groups. We use the Bayesian approach to solve some of the methodological problems, especially the issue of missing data and under sampling for minority groups. The most important finding is that while both social capital and human capital are important for white voting participation, for blacks only bonding social capital measured by church attendance is the most important factor in enhancing political participation. SES, on the other hand, does not explain black voting participation. We conclude that social capital does explain voting participation. The utility of social capital theory, however, must be put in a racial context. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thesis statement for this research is the more evidence of religiosity and political consciousness among African-American women, the more likely they will vote and participate in the United States political arena to realize their political interests and aspirations. Religiosity and political consciousness are examined as a combined predictor of voting and progressive political action among African-American women. The political interests and aspirations of African-American women are explored by analyzing their progressive political action in eleven United States Presidential Elections from 1964 through 2004. The Hegelian Dialectic Method was adapted in this study to explain the seven dialectical phases of religiosity and political consciousness as determinants of progressive political action among African-American women. The seven dialectical phases were based on the Hegelian Dialectic that identifies the Absolute Spirit placing emphasis on the dialectical relationship between Spirit, God and historical conditions that society and an individual respectively undergoes. The highest phase of development is the Absolute Spirit. By identifying seven dialectic phases, I posited that religiosity and political consciousness enables African-American women to move increasingly to the highest phase of consciousness: progressive political action. The research methodology employed in this research was triangulation. Quantitative data consisted of the National Opinion Research Center of General Social Science1972-2000 (NORC-GSS) national data. Qualitative data consisted of primary focus group research. Eight hypotheses and six research questions guided this study.Three major endogenous variables (e.g. religiosity, political consciousness, and progressive political action) and two exogenous variables (e.g., age, occupation) were tested in this study. All hypotheses were measured at the .05 alpha level. The Hegelian Dialectic Method was confirmed by focus group summary analysis. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently the subject of political polarization in the United States has drawn considerable scholarly attention. McCarty, Poole, and Rosenthal (2006) contend that partisan polarization in the United States is linked directly to patterns of income inequality over time. They argue that political parties—both in the electorate and in government—become more ideologically polarized during periods of high income inequality, while differences between the parties wane during periods of relative income equality. McCarty et al. explore the effects of income inequality on polarization among U.S. House members and find greater polarization based on income during periods of high income inequality. However, U.S. senators are elected within states, and arguably it is important to consider the possible effects of income inequality within the states from which senators are elected. If McCarty et al. are correct, political parties should be more polarized in states with high income inequality, and this should be translated into polarized behavior by senators representing different political parties. We develop and test a model of roll-call ideology among U.S. senators from 1963 to 2004. We model DW-Nominate scores as a function of party, state income inequality, and the interaction between party and inequality. If McCarty et al. are correct, we expect senators from states with high levels of income inequality to be more ideologically extreme (i.e., polarized) than senators from states with low income inequality. We hypothesize that the coefficient for the party-inequality interaction will be positive, suggesting that the senators' behavior becomes more polarized as inequality increases. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do some members of Congress support and others oppose free trade with China? Why do some legislators constantly hold their positions, and others often switch their minds on the annual debate over the extension of China's normal trade relations status? I explore the sources and processes of congressional voting stability and instability over China's NTR renewal from 1990 to 2001. The annual debates over renewal of China's free trade status provide a natural experiment to evaluate how members of Congress determine and maintain their positions on a critical foreign policy during the era of partisan polarization.I argue that members of Congress not only comply with constituents demands but also weigh in partisan strategies and institutional contexts for shaping and reshaping their positions towards China. "Strategic disagreements" in polarized Congress play a critical role in members' position taking over China policy. Members of presidential party also had second thoughts about their positions towards China. And, instead of fighting and negotiating for a number of separate legislations to address diverse and controversial China issues, members of Congress could easily score political points for their constituents by taking positions in the course of debates over China's NTR renewal. I test partisan and institutional dimension of congressional politics towards China as well as the influences of constituency, interest groups, and members' ideology. Empirical finding suggests that members translate their constituents' concerns into legislative voting and those concerns are not necessarily restricted to free trade issue. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social science researchers have found that factors such as political preference, media coverage, age, and income are important determinants of attitudes toward the environment. Many of these researchers are in disagreement over the theoretical bases for these factors, as well as their impact and direction. In addition, in testing the impact of these variables, direct expression of preference through voting is rarely used; instead, researchers rely on survey data, elite behavior, experiments and other sources. Our study attempts to reconcile varying fields and findings through the use of initiative data from U.S. states. Using county-level data, we test the core theoretical propositions found in the social science research against initiative returns in multiple elections across various states. This study provides a strong empirical foundation for current environmental policy debates, while exploring possible new horizons for correlates of actual political commitment to the environment. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is the United States Senate a partyless institution dominated by individualism and minority obstruction or can the parties in the upper chamber coordinate their efforts during the legislative process? Based on the rules of the Senate, it is possible for an individual or a small minority of the chamber from either party to obstruct the legislative process. Further, because the seniority norm still exists in the Senate, leaders have traditionally lacked the ability to punish defectors through the committee assignment process. As such, there are relatively few theories of the Senate where the parties play a central role similar to their counterparts in the House. However, evidence tells a different story. Prior to 1946, levels of party unity were similar on procedural and final passage votes. After 1946, this began to change as the percent of procedural votes that were party unity votes began to increase while the same measure for final passage votes continued to decline. Even though the Senate lacks a unifying leader with powers akin to the Speaker, I will demonstrate that the parties can coordinate legislative strategy. In particular, the evidence suggests that the parties began to act as "procedural cartels" (Campbell, Cox, and McCubbins 2002; Cox and McCubbins 1993, 2001, 2002, 2005) through unified voting on procedural matters. This heightened degree of party unity began a decade before the "master of the Senate," Lyndon Johnson became majority leader and almost 30 years before the return of party power in the post-reform House. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Very little is known about why voters vote the way they do for state supreme court judges. This study examines partisan elections in an attempt to gain a further understanding of voting behavior in partisan elections for state supreme court judges. From 1980-2005, ten states used partisan elections for at least one year to select justices for their high court. This study examines the possibility of the existence of a gubernatorial coattail effect as a way to explain voter behavior. Both gubernatorial election years and non-gubernatorial election years are examined, as well as the differences between Republican and Democrat governors. Ultimately, data suggests that a gubernatorial coattail exists in years where there is a gubernatorial election, but not in years where there is no election for the state's highest office. Subsequently, Democratic judicial candidates seem to fair better regardless of the party of the governor. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the elimination of the regularly occurring legislative sessions that convened after the November congressional elections with the ratification of the Twentieth Amendment in 1933, Congress still occasional meets in a lame duck session. In fact, such sessions are becoming commonplace, with the convening of post-election sessions in 5 of the last 6 congresses. These sessions are comprised of a mix of members who will return to serve in the subsequent congress and of lame ducks: defeated members and retirees. As a result, lame duck sessions would seem to differ significantly from the regular sessions that met prior to the elections. Past opponents of the lame duck sessions argued departing members showed dramatic changes in their voting behavior as a result of the severed linkages with constituents. Lame ducks, it was claimed, sought to p! lacate interests other than those they represented. If that is the case, we might expect to find noticeable differences across regular and lame duck sessions in the effectiveness of party leaders to craft an agenda and to keep their fellow partisans in the fold to support that agenda. We analyze roll call behavior and party cohesion across sessions to answer two questions. First, whether departing members make notable changes in their voting behavior in their days in office. Second, we seek to determine whether the nature of party pressures and party leadership changes in lame duck sessions. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2004, election turnout rates in the United States and Canada started to converge, in part due to an increase in interest which led to higher turnout in the United States, and in part due to a generational-induced decline in turnout in Canada. Based on the theory that higher rates of participation are commonly associated with lower socioeconomic bias in participation (Lijphart, APSR 1997), I will use National Election Studies data from both countries to examine whether the recent changes in turnout levels have resulted in lower turnout bias in the United States and higher turnout bias in Canada (using standard SES variables). Possible partisan consequences will be discussed. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two competing claims have arisen which attempt to explain legislative committee behavior. The first, the distributional model, suggests that committees are one of the main mechanisms for logrolling votes. Committee members engage in trade with each other as well as other committees to ensure gains from trade. In essence, this theory posits that the committees are designed to gain distributional advantages that House members can translate into electoral gains. The informational model, however, posits that committees are designed to ensure better policy outcomes. In short, the committee system is designed in a manner that allows House members to gain informational advantages over other members not serving on the committee. The committee members can then serve as a signaling mechanism to other House members. Although this is a great oversimplification of the models, the general tenets apply. Do the above models relate to other groups in the House? Specifically, this research attempts to determine whether or not the Women's and Black Caucuses follow either model. Initial results suggest that they do. While some caucuses fall into the distributional model (the Coastal Caucus) others are not as easily categorized. The two caucuses studied in this research appear to fall into specific models a majority of the time with minor variations that are dependent upon particular situations. Both groups are geographically diverse yet allied closely along party lines. Additionally, neither group votes in a monolithic fashion making this research particularly interesting. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]