2006 Conference Program - Midwest Political Science Association

24-9 WHO LEADS: UNTANGLING THERELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PUBLICOPINION AND ELITE CUESRoomChairPaperPaperPaperDisc.TBA, Fri 3:45 pmJan P. Vermeer, Nebraska Wesleyan UniversityExploiting a Rare Shift in Communication Flows: MediaEffects in the 1997 British ElectionGabriel Lenz, Princeton UniversityJonathan Ladd, Georgetown UniversityOverview: Using panel data and matching techniques, weexploit the switch by several prominent UK newspapers to theLabour Party before the 1997 election to test and find evidenceof otherwise elusive media effects.Polling in the Press: The Impact of ElitesJennifer Oats-Sargent, University of IllinoisOverview: Polls are more likely to be used in media coveragewhen elites dissenting and there is increased mobilization. Asthe levels of dissent or mobilization rise, polls are also morelikely to play a stronger role in shaping the deliberation on theissue.Wresting the Microphone: Authority and Rhetoric in theProcess of Political ChangeDeva R. Woodly, University of ChicagoOverview: Acceptance of new political discourses changes thepolicy environment in which elites act and publics formopinions. This paper investigates the process of issue acceptancein mainstream political discoursesJan P. Vermeer, Nebraska Wesleyan University25-7 STRUCTURAL DETERMINANTS OFWOMEN'S REPRESENTATION (CosponsoredLegislative Politics: Campaigns andElections, see 35-10)RoomChairPaperPaperPaperPaperDisc.TBA, Fri 3:45 pmRosalyn Cooperman, University of Mary WashingtonThe Primary Reason for Women's Under-Representation:Challenging the Conventional WisdomJennifer L. Lawless, Brown UniversityKathryn Pearson, University of MinnesotaOverview: Based on a new, original data set of congressionalprimary elections spanning six decades, our analysis sheds lighton the manner in which gender remains relevant at the polls, aswell as the circumstances under which women are most likely towin.Stereotypes at the Gate? Institutional Rules, Stereotypes,and Candidate NominationsAngela L. Bos, University of MinnesotaOverview: I test whether legal and institutional rules thatdetermine the role of political parties in candidate nomination(e.g., primaries or nominating conventions).Campaign Finance and Gender: Male and FemaleFundraising in the House Elections of 2000Leesa Althen, University of Missouri, St. LouisOverview: This paper uses multivariate regression to testwhether there are differences in campaign fundraising betweenmale and female candidates.Comparative Socialization and Participation of Americanand Swedish WomenMargaret E. Gilkison, University of Wisconsin, Eau ClaireHannah Lott, University of Wisconsin, Eau ClaireOverview: This paper focuses on why the USA has a sizablegender gap between candidates and winners at election time.This paper will compare the USA to Sweden, where genderequity is the dominant pattern.Louise K. Davidson-Schmich, University of MiamiRosalyn Cooperman, University of Mary Washington26-5 RACE, ETHNICITY AND POLITICALDEVELOPMENTRoomChairPaperPaperPaperPaperDisc.TBA, Fri 3:45 pmNiambi M. Carter, Duke UniversityU.S. National State Making and Asian ImmigrationExclusionVictor Jew, University of Wisconsin, MadisonOverview: This paper explores the U.S. immigration regime ofChinese Exclusion, 1882 to 1943, to understand the refining ofstate administrative capabilities. Theoretically and empirically,it contributes to American Political Developmenthistoriography.Imagining Civil Rights in a Segregationist EraDianne M. Pinderhughes, University of Illinois, Urbana-ChampaignOverview: This paper explores the formation during the 1930sand 1940s of legislative coalitions that created the Civil andVoting Rights legislation of the 1950s and 1960s.Mexican Americans, Electoral Politics and Race in Texas,1950-1970Benjamin Marquez, University of Wisconsin, MadisonOverview: Political identity helped break the color line duringthe Mexican American civil rights movement. Negotiations overinclusion revealed Mexican American political power, the stateof race relations, and a commitment to political inclusion.The Deep North and the Deep South: A ComparativeAnlaysis of the Effect of the Great Migration on Blacks andWhites from Mississippi to MichiganTeResa C. Green, Eastern Michigan UniversityOverview: The discussion of White migration during the GreatBlack Migration is limited. It is important to find out if Whitesoutherners brought their virulent racism which augmented theDeep North’s own history of racism and repression.Paula D. McClain, Duke University26-18 RACIAL AND ETHNIC IDENTITIES INPOLITICSRoomChairPaperPaperPaperPaperDisc.TBA, Fri 3:45 pmAmber C. Concepcion, Georgetown UniversityConceptualizations of Racial Change in Survey PanelStudiesThomas C. Craemer, University of ConnecticutOverview: The reliance of panel studies on a single measure ofrace, rather than repeated measures, conflicts with the view thatrace is a social construct and with the purpose of a panel study.Racial change is observed in panel and experimental studies.Does Identity Choice Affect the Political Participation ofLatinos?: Understanding the Role of Reactive, Symbolic andSelective Identity on Latino Political IncorporationGia E. Barboza, Michigan State UniversityOverview: Scholarly focus on the role that ethnic identity playsin promoting Latino political behaviors is necessary tounderstanding their subsequent incorporation into the Americanpolity.Interracial Contact, Social Isolation and Black GroupIdentificationRonald E. Brown, Wayne State UniversityJames S. Jackson, University of Michigan, Ann ArborWassim Tarraf, Wayne State UniversityOverview: This paper describes the influence that socialisolation, organizational involvement, interracial contact,perceptions of individual discriminatory treatment, and socialclass has on perceptions of group solidarity.The Delta Chinese and the Reproduction of AmericanRacial HierarchyChristopher B. Lee, University of California, Los AngelesOverview: This paper will examine the reproduction ofAmerica's racial hierarchical system by critically assessingblack, Chinese, and white relations in the Mississippi Deltafrom the post-Reconstruction era to the closing of the 1960'sCivil Rights period.Janelle Wong, University of Southern California180