Congress: The Electoral Connection

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Congress The Electoral Connection

• 324 Class 2

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Parties as Teams

• Example, hot dog carts on the beach

Hungry People on the Beach!!
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Parties as Teams

• Example, hot dog carts on the beach

Hungry People on the Beach!!
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Parties as Teams

• Example, hot dog carts on the beach

Hungry People on the Beach!!
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Parties as Teams

• Example, hot dog carts on the beach

Hungry People on the Beach!! Each Cart Gets ½ of
the Beach
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Parties as Teams

• Example, hot dog carts on the beach

Hungry People on the Beach!! Green Moves to the R
ight
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Parties as Teams

• Example, hot dog carts on the beach

New Midpoint
Hungry People on the Beach!! Green Gets More Cust
omers by moving right
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Parties as Teams

• Example, hot dog carts on the beach

Old Midpoint
Hungry People on the Beach!! White Moves to the L
eft
They Each get ½ again
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Parties as Teams

• Example, hot dog carts on the beach

Old Midpoint
Hungry People on the Beach!! Both move to the cen
ter
(or median)
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Parties as Teams

• Example, hot dog carts on the beach

Old Midpoint
Hungry People on the Beach!! Each end up at the m
edian and share ½ of the beach
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Parties as Teams

• Dont Believe it, why are gas stations across
  from each other?
  
• Applies elsewhere as well
• TV News
• Time and Newsweek
• What about political parties?

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Parties as Teams Anthony Downs

• Assume Two parties
• Liberal (Democrats)
• Conservative (Republicans)
• Voters Pick the Team closest to them
• The further away the team is, the more the voter
  does not like that team
  
• Direction does not matter
• This is called a single peaked preference

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Median Voter
Liberal

Conservative
Voter 1
Median
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Median Voter
Liberal

Conservative
Voter 1
Median
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Median Voter
Is voter 1s Ideal point. She wants the
candidate to be at but will vote for the
closest party anyway
Liberal

Conservative
Voter 1
Median
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Median Voter

• Instead of One voter, there are lots of them

Liberal
Conservative
Lots of Voters
Median
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Median Voter

• Converge to the median
• 50/50 tie
• Coin flip

Voters
Liberal
Conservative
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Median Voter

• What can a third party do?

Voters
Liberal
Conservative
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Median Voter

• What can a third party do?
• Blue and Green Split votes, Red wins
• 2000 Election, opposite in 1992

Voters
Liberal
Conservative
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Median Voter

• What about primary elections?
• Voters from the candidates party choose who gets
  to run in the general election
  
• Voters are generally more extreme

Liberal
Conservative
Primary Median
Primary Median
General Election Median
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Median Voter

• What about primary elections?
• Voters from the candidates party choose who gets
  to run in the general election
  
• Voters are generally more extreme

Liberal
Conservative
Primary Median
Primary Median
General Election Median
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Mayhew

• First Premise
• Think like an economist, not like a sociologist
• Sociologist norms, folkways
• Squishy
• Economics purposive behavior
• Rational Choice chose behavior to maximize
  goals
  

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Mayhew

• What are members goals according to Mayhew?
• Reelection, Reelection and Reelection
• What kinds of activity does the goal imply?
  (First section)
  
• How do they design the Congress to achieve these
  goals (Second section)
  

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Why reelection?

• Fits reality well
• Spotlight on individuals
• This is how democracy is supposed to work
  (Madison)

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Electoral Incentives?

• Easy Question - Is the Congress a place where
  members wish to stay?
  
• 1971 20 percent served 10 terms
• Hard Question Is reelection the only goal?
• Power within the institution, good public policy,
  ambition, maintaining the majority
  
• Mayhew says reelection is the proximate goal

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Alternative View

• Parties are the prime movers in electoral
  politics
  
• Downss Economic Theory of Democracy
• Individuals join a team or party
• Parties bid for favor from the public by offering
  policy
  
• Voters cast votes based on the expected party
  differential

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Which is correct?

• Are members of Congress part of a team or are
  they individuals?
  
• Do they choose, or are they forced, to act in
  similar ways?
  
• Can a team have mavericks and be successful?

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Evidence for Individuals

• Nomination system
• Direct Primary
• Heterogeneous states
• Resources
• Mobilize own resources, and labor
• Lack of a cabinet

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Answer

• No theoretical treatment of the United States
  Congress that posits parties as analytic units
  will go very far.

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How to secure reelection

• What influences elections?
• Economy, presidential popularity, war
• Can individual members influence these things?
• Solution ignore them

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How to secure reelection

• All members are vulnerable at some point in their
  careers
  
• ½ of variance in outcome is local
• Incumbents can influence their results
• Members are unbeatable because they are good at
  what they do.
  

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How to secure reelection

• Need to keep resource balance in their favor
• How do they do this?
• Advertising
• Credit Claiming
• Position Taking

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Advertising

• Any effort to disseminate ones name among
  constituents in such a fashion as to create a
  favorable image but in messages that having
  little or no issue content
• Brand name
• Experience, knowledge, responsiveness, concern,
  sincerity, independence etc.
  
• Home-style, speeches, congratulations, baby
  books, etc.

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Credit Claiming

• Acting so as to generate a belief in a relevant
  political actor that one is personally
  responsible for causing the government, or some
  unit thereof, to do something that the actor
  considers desirable
• Individual accomplishment (not party)

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Credit Claiming

• Particularized benefit
• Given out to a specific group, individual or
  geographic unit
  
• Given out in an ad hoc fashion
• Get the district their piece of the pie
• Shiny construction projects
• Casework

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Position Taking

• Public enunciation of a judgmental statement on
  anything likely to be of interest to political
  actors
  
• Ex, War, health care, steroids, etc.
• Speaker not a doer
• Speeches, articles, tv, books, petitions
• Winning ideas hunger, communism

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Roll Call vs. Speech

• Speech can be vague
• Roll call recorded vote on the floor of the
  chamber
  
• Cant be vague
• Watched by interest groups
• Dont make votes that will hurt you
• Dont have to win, just be on the right side

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When to act

• Senators position taking/access to media
• Machine Cities credit claiming
• Upper class position taking
• Ambitious advertising, position taking

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Summary

• Parties acting as teams vs. individual actors
• Mayhew individuals are important
• Advertising
• Credit Claiming
• Position Taking