2008 Conference Program - Midwest Political Science Association

Friday, April 4-2:45 pm
Paper
Paper
Paper
Disc.
The Disincentive to Converge: Reconsidering the Lincoln-
Douglas Debates
Through an exploration of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, I identify
the conditions under which convergence to the median voter is a
suboptimal solution for an office-seeking candidate.
Darin DeWitt, University of California, Los Angeles
darin.dewitt@gmail.com
Big Parties under Proportional Representation
Elections under PR result in more parties than under plurality, but
not drastically more. Why aren’t there more parties under PR
Larger parties promote more efficient policy compromises, and are
more likely to be part of winning coalitions.
Kathleen Bawn, University of California, Los Angeles
kbawn@polisci.ucla.edu
Solidarity or Competition Dynamics Among Social Movements
I propose a game theoretic model where social movement groups
decide to build coalition or compete with other depending on the
political opportunity structure and the extent to which their claims
overlap.
Baran Han, Cornell University
bh84@cornell.edu
Adam J. Ramey, University of Rochester
adam.ramey@rochester.edu
39-8 THE PERSONAL AND PLEBISCITARY
PRESIDENCIES
Room PDR 7 on the 3rd Floor, Fri at 2:45 pm
Chair Justin S. Vaughn, Cleveland State University
j.s.vaughn@csuohio.edu
Paper Strategic Leaders: Identifying Successful Presidential
Leadership of Public Opinion
In this article, we reevaluate opinion leadership by examining
several strategic options and multiple political conditions under
which the president might be influencing opinion movement.
Brandon Rottinghaus, University of Houston
bjrottinghaus@uh.edu
Paper A New Understanding of Presidential Responsiveness with
Citizens' Actions
This paper reshapes the way we analyze presidential responsiveness
by going beyond public opinion to directly analyze citizens’
political behavior and the President's response to these actions from
1954-1992.
Daniel Gillion, University of Rochester
dgillion@mail.rochester.edu
Paper The Good, The Bad, and The Active Negative Personality as
Regime Builder
We examine the relationship between personality and context in
presidential leadership, arguing that a range of outcomes is possible
for active negative regime builders. Jackson's and Cleveland's (II)
presidencies serve as examples.
Adam S. Myers, University of Texas, Austin
asm752@gov.utexas.edu
Curtis W. Nichols, University of Texas, Austin
curtnichols@mail.utexas.edu
Paper The George W. Bush Presidency and Washington Governance
What are the distinctive features of the George W. Bush
administration's approach to Washington governance This paper
explores the administration's governing style regarding Congress,
the executive branch and federal courts.
Steven E. Schier, Carleton College
sschier@carleton.edu
Paper
Disc.
Professional Reputation and Public Prestige of the President:
Bush II Over Time
This paper examines the relationship between professional
reputation, public prestige, and other influential variables in the case
of George W. Bush, and also considers the economy, events and
crises taking place during Bush’s term in office.
Jonathan C. Young, West Virginia University
jcyoung@mail.wvu.edu
Laurie L. Rice, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville
larice@siue.edu
Justin S. Vaughn, Cleveland State University
j.s.vaughn@csuohio.edu
40-301 POSTER SESSION: LEGISLATIVE POLITICS:
INSTITUTIONS
Room Grand on the 4th Floor, Fri at 2:45 pm
Poster 5 The Influence of Special Rules on Legislating Process: Queenof-the-Hill
as a Case
In this paper, I study how queen-of-the-hill rule influence the voting
patterns of members of Congress.
Jianying Wang, University of Missouri, Columbia
jwmq3@mizzou.edu
Poster 6 A Forthcoming Disaster: Sacramento Delta Public Policy
Failures
There is no national disaster insurance program to provide for cost
recovery for structural losses resulting from events like hurricanes
and flooding. It is essential that Congress and State Legislatures
enact a national disaster insurance policy.
Allen Kingsley Settle, California Polytechnic State University
asettle@calpoly.edu
Poster 7 The Legislative Politics of Federal Higher Education Funding
Since 1940
This paper presents an analysis of the factors that have shaped the
federal higher education funding agenda in the last sixty-five years,
identifying five factors that have provided the impetus behind the
passage of funding policies since WWII.
Jayanti J. Owens, Princeton University
jowens@princeton.edu
Poster 8 Political Partisanship and Statesmanship
We retrieve the virtue of statesmanship from conservative
ideological misapporpriations and argue that the excessively
partisan nature of American politics is having a detrimental effect
on the capacity of our political leaders to become statesmen.
Gordon A. Babst, Chapman University
gbabst@chapman.edu
James Moore, Chapman University
moore113@chapman.edu
Poster 9 Distributional Impacts of Malapportionment in the House of
Representatives
Does malapportionment in the US House lead to bias in
the distribution of funding to states Using a difference in
differences approach, I exploit changes in representation due to
reapportionment to test the effect of House representation on
funding.
Kelly T. Rader, Columbia University
ktr2102@columbia.edu
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