American Politics Commons^™

Distributive Politics And Electoral Cycles In The American Political System, 2004-2006, Travis Roline

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Each year, billions of dollars are distributed from the federal government to benefit state and local governments, individuals, and private and nonprofit corporations. These benefits are available in a variety of forms including: project, block, and formula grants. Are the amounts of federal funding manipulative based on the political party in charge of or in contest for the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives? Data for this project was obtained via multiple venues. The Federal Assistance Award Data System online was used for the collection of project, block, and formula grant data. House and Senate party control and representation …

Creating A Comprehensive Profile Of The Academic Competitiveness Grant, Kelsea Klein

Political Science Theses and Capstones

The recent push for more Americans to attend postsecondary institutions has led to the development of numerous and far-reaching government student financial aid programs. These programs have aimed at supplying the whole of the population with financial assistance regardless of color, gender, or age. However, the distribution of the aid has encountered many problems as critics argue that the recipients of the aid are primarily limited to a narrow subgroup of the population. A new program created under the Higher Education Reconciliation Act of 2005 called the Academic Competitiveness Grant is no exception. Preliminary logit analysis of the reception rates …

Taking Money: The Politics Of Asset Forfeiture In The State Of Minnesota, Chad Hedman

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Is there a reason why a particular county might use asset forfeiture more than others? Asset forfeiture, in short, is law enforcement confiscating any items used in the act of committing a crime. As many governments face more budget crunches and deficits all means of revenue will become more vital to everyday operations. Everything gets reported back to the Minnesota State Auditor, where I was able to get complete data on every county. For variables such as education, race and others I drew from numerous government websites. I wanted to see if certain variables correlated with higher incidence of forfeiture. …

The Impact Of Short Term Economic Data On The Perception Of Public Officials: Analysis Of The 2008 Economic Crisis And The American Presidential Election, James A. Foster

Political Science Theses and Capstones

As the economy of the United States fluctuated in the months leading to the 2008 presidential election, so did the public’s perception of the two leading candidates for the Oval Office. While American voting habits and economic trends have been researched heavily, the potential to analyze the effects of the economy on public opinion during an historic recession is just being uncovered. Using data from the 2008 American National Election Study, as well as daily closing numbers of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, trends emerge suggesting a possible relationship between short run economic indicators and the public’s views towards political …

The Variation In Third Party Politics Across The American States, Trevor Grunwald

Political Science Theses and Capstones

It seems that third party candidates and third parties themselves are usually just a flash in the pan, who once in a while seem to get their fifteen minutes of fame. Ross Perot a native Texan created lots of havoc on the 92 and 96 presidential elections. Also in the great state of Minnesota in 1998 Jesse Ventura became Governor while being a third party candidate. One can’t help but wonder who the next big third party candidate will be, and from which state they will come. Will this person come from a conservative state a liberal state, or will …

Governing Gambling In The United States, Maria E. Garcia

CMC Senior Theses

The role risk taking has played in American history has helped shape current legislation concerning gambling. This thesis attempts to explain the discrepancies in legislation regarding distinct forms of gambling. While casinos are heavily regulated by state and federal laws, most statutes dealing with lotteries strive to regulate the activities of other parties instead of those of the lottery institutions. Incidentally, lotteries are the only form of gambling completely managed by the government. It can be inferred that the United States government is more concerned with people exploiting gambling than with the actual practice of wagering.

In an effort to …

Tribal Gaming And The Political Contributions Strategies Of Native American Tribes In Minnesota, Thomas Sorenson

Political Science Theses and Capstones

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act has made a big impact on tribal-state relations since it was enacted in 1988 by the federal government. Tribes have started to make campaign contributions to state and federal politicians to help try to mold lawmakers to vote for Tribal interests. My research looks at Minnesota tribes and their campaign contributions to House members during the 2005 election, and whether these lawmakers voted for tribal issues during their term. For control variables I also gathered a variety of information related to legislative districts. What my analysis has shown is that the tribes in Minnesota donate …

The Effects On A State When They Lose Their Senior Senator, Adam J. Morris

CMC Senior Theses

The Primary purpose of this paper is to examine the role and importance of Senior Senators in the US Senate. Many states rely on Senators to bring in federal spending in the form of pork. When states lose their Senior Senator and the power they accumulated through increased tenure, they risk losing certain benefits in terms of pork. We use federal expenditures per dollar of tax and analyze how it is affected by Seniority in the Senate. Population, Income, and unemployment rates in each state were controlled for in our regression analysis. It is concluded that increased tenure significantly increases …

Ua37/29 Gary Ransdell - Fed. Reserve Board - Bernanke Speech To Economic Club Of Washington, St. Louis Federal Reserve Board

WKU Administration Documents

Email sent to members of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Board of speech given by Ben Bernanke at the Economic Club of Washington.

Ua37/29 Gary Ransdell - Fed. Reserve Board - Ben Bernanke's Confirmation Hearing Testimony, St. Louis Federal Reserve Board

WKU Administration Documents

Email sent to members of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Board regarding Ben Bernanke's confirmation hearing testimony.

Minnesota Mandates: County Government Fiscal Stress In An Era Of Declining State Support, Selena Krueth

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Minnesota counties are experiencing more than just financial burdens from state mandates these days. Counties and local governments currently are seeking the most effective solution of implementing state mandates; leaving behind the argument of no mandates without funding to "give us mandates that work". In my analysis I combined county budgetary and demographic data, with phone survey data gathered from Minnesota counties. I anticipate results that will show a wide variety in county administrator attitudes towards state mandates and varying local capacity to meet them. Costly state mandates, such as health services, and large county populations have proven significant in …

Children's Health Insurance Program: The Dynamics Of Federalism And Health Care Policy, Erik White

Political Science Theses and Capstones

On February 4^th, 2009, President Obama signed into law the reauthorization of the Children Health Insurance Program. The federal government will now spend 30 billion dollars towards the goal of ensuring that more children in the United States are insured. I investigate this particular health care policy and look at the different dynamics that affect the ultimate goal of universal health insurance for children. Because this program allows for state flexibility under broad federal guidelines, one is able to look at individual states, and their particular actions and characteristics, to determine the best approach to insuring the most …

Educational Vouchers And Academic Performance, Nicole Kvidera

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Every time our elected representatives are looking at budget, or election time rolls around, or a family is considering moving, the topic of education is in the thoughts and on the minds of many. Over the years there have been many different education reforms and proposed ideas. This presentation will go in-depth into one such educational reform idea. Educational vouchers have been studied in various ways over the years; the data for this study comes from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and gathered over the course of years. The data gathered allows one to compare students in Milwaukee Public Schools and students that …

Economic Development In Cold War South Carolina, R. Phillip Stone Ii

Faculty Scholarship

Argues that South Carolina did not benefit from Cold War-influenced economic development because of the lack of industry in the state and the lack of skilled workers. South Carolina's focus on low-wage, low-value added production continued well into the modern era.

The Influence Of Campaign Expenditures On Virginia House Of Delegates Electoral Success, Christopher Jones, James Monks

Economics Faculty Publications

For decades economists and political scientists have sought to identify variables that influence the electoral success of public officials. Most of the existing literature focuses on the determinants of federal elections. This study examines elections to the Virginia House of Delegates and finds that campaign expenditures, incumbency status, party affiliation, and district voting tendencies all are significant predictors of electoral success. Additionally, this study finds that the returns to campaign expenditures, in terms of the additional votes that they generate, vary based on incumbency, party affiliation, number of opponents in the race, and over time.

Cyclicality Of State Budgeting: A Political-Economy Analysis., Ian W. Cummins

Honors Theses

This paper disentangles the effect of political ideology and budget rules on fiscal cyclicality across the U.S. states. Using panel data from 1963 to 2006, liberal states are found to be significantly less procyclical than conservative ones. The impact of balanced budget constraints is contingent on the ideological orientation of the state in which they are imposed. Tight balanced budget rules are not binding on conservative states, but are binding on liberal ones. Where they are binding, budget rules mediate the link between voter preferences and policy outcomes skewing them toward greater procyclicality.

Nepa And The Dynamics Of Public Participation In The Environmental Review Process: An Analysis Of The Northmet (Polymet) Mining Project Near Hoyt Lakes Minnesota, Amber Neumann

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Hypothesis: That comments collected from agency “experts” during the scoping phase of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process would be disproportionately represented as changes in subsequent drafts of NorthMet’s Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

Methods: Tabular analysis of data collected from the Minnesota DNR publication of Response to the Public Scoping Projects PolyMet Mining Inc.; NorthMet Project. 2005

Results: There is an excellent cross section of comment sources represented in changes to subsequent drafts of NorthMet’s EIS. A lot of overlap exists between various types of participants and their concerns, resulting in many of the successful comments stemming from …

Can Public Debt Enhance Democracy?, Clayton P. Gillette

William & Mary Law Review

This Essay draws on historical and current examples to examine the extent to which public creditors can enhance democracy by monitoring public officials in a manner that compensates for the failures of the government debtor's constituents to monitor public officials. Creditors and constituents may share significant interests, depending on the structure of security arrangements for public debt and the identity of the debtors. Where interests overlap, the capacity of creditors to overcome collective action problems suffered by constituents may transform creditors into surrogates for constituents. Whether creditors are willing to play this role, however, may depend on the existence of …

American Challenges, Jim Gomes

Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise

In the autumn of 2008, with the United States facing myriad problems both foreign and domestic and entering the final stage of a historic election, The Boston Globe asked Mosakowski Institute Director Jim Gomes to write a series of op-ed pieces about critical issues on the nation’s agenda. The result is the six columns collected here in American Challenges. “When I wrote these pieces,” said Gomes, “the country had entered a period of great uncertainty. So much of what had been taken as a given in the last half of the 20th century, from broadly shared prosperity to the health …

Reviewed Work: Understanding Institutional Diversity By Elinor Ostrom, Jonathan G.S. Koppell

Publications from President Jonathan G.S. Koppell

No abstract provided.

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 81, No. 24, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news. Articles in this issue:

• Coulter, Amber. Budget Won’t Cover Costs
• Paul, Corey. Fires Destroy Local Houses - Arson
• Harrell, Bobby. J-term Enrollment Higher than University of Kentucky’s
• Bosken, Nina. Race Machine Brings Diversity to Downing University Center – Video Games
• Coulter, Amber. Study Finds Salary Equity
• Coulter, Amber. Donor Helps Scholarship Increase
• Governor Ernie Fletcher’s Folly
• Watt, Wes. Opinion Page is Everyone’s Page
• Casagrande, Michael. Note from the Editor
• McNamara, Andrew. Additions to Downing University Center Centralize Services
• Harrell, Bobby. Governor’s Comments Ignite Intelligent Design Debate
• Paul, Corey. Professors, …

Incumbency Reconsidered: Prospects, Strategic Entry, And Incumbent Quality In U.S. House Elections, Walter J. Stone, Sarah Fulton, Cherie D. Maestas, L. Sandy Maisel

Working Papers in Economics

Efforts to estimate the magnitude of the incumbency effect in U.S. House elections and assess its political meaning have been complicated by two omitted-variables problems. First, in the absence of an adequate measure of incumbent prospects, estimates of the magnitude of the incumbency effect fail to control for selection effects associated with the decision incumbents make about whether to run for reelection. Strategic incumbents enter races they think they can win and withdraw when they expect to lose. The consequence is an upward bias in estimates of incumbents’ electoral advantages. Second, the normative implications of high reelection rates cannot be …

On Power And Equity: Toward A Working-Class Rhetoric, Omar Schwartz

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

The working-class in the United States has been, and continues to be, systematically excluded from normative political representation and is allowed little opportunity to contribute to the terms and conditions of its social existence (Henwood, 1987; Moberg, 1992). While few workers today resist such marginalization, this has not been always the case. During the formative period of U.S. labor consciousness (from the end of the Civil War until the First World War), the political alienation of labor was routinely challenged by workers who relied extensively (and illegally) on collective self-help in their pursuit of economic justice. With this …

Presidents, Profits, Productivity, & Poverty: A Great Divide Between The Pre- & Post-Reagan U.S. Economy?, Richard K. Caputo

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper examined profits, productivity, and poverty in the United States from 1961 through 2002. Results indicated that the "great divide" thesis regarding the U.S. economy before and after the Reagan administration depends on which measure of the economy is the focus of attention. In addition, on some measures where before and after differences were detected, the nature of those differences was paradoxical. Corporate profits as a share of national income, for example, were highest in Democratic rather than Republican administrations and despite the increased income inequality of the post-Reagan years, individual and family poverty rates remained relatively constant after …

Political Barriers And The Transmission Of Monetary Policy Across States: The New England Antebellum Banking Market, Andrew J. Economopoulos

Business and Economics Faculty Publications

The New England antebellum banking market was examined to understand the interaction of political ideology and economic forces. With each state controlling bank entry, hence the money supply, political ideology could impede the supply of money within a state. However, the monetary forces from neighboring states may have influenced the degree to which parties held true to their political ideology. The results indicate that political ideology was an effective barrier in two of the six states, while three states were responsive to neighbor states' monetary policy regardless of political ideology. These states responded by creating new banks, raising existing capital …

Trends. National Security And The United States Government 2004 Federal Budget: Is It Good For Security?, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This Trends article discusses the (under)funding of homeland security and defense in an Executive Branch proposal for the United States Government 2004 federal budget.

Trends. Personalities, Motivations, And Capabilities: The Iraq-North Korea Distinction, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This Trends article discusses and evaluates the handling of public affairs and justifications for military intervention in Iraq by the United States Secretary of State.

For Patriot Dream: America Freedom Endures, Don P. Diffine Ph.D.

Belden Center Books

This book describes what in the world is at stake for America's war on terrorism. How shall we gauge the future of our land so recently visited with terrorism against our pillars of capitalism? For over 200 years, our country, through freedom and hard work, has changed the world. Our religious freedoms, civil freedoms, human rights, and the importance we place on the dignity of the individual--all these set us apart. Among all the world's nations, America still stands out in front. We should never forget that we are Americans, first, last, and always.

Trends. Cognitive Dissonance And Conflation Of Patriotism And Political Advocacy: On The Secrecy Of The Intelligence Budget, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article discusses the views of the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) regarding the budgeting practices of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Sanctimony On Sanctions: What The United States And Russia Have In Common, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes political psychological issues related to consequences stemming from political sanctions.