American Politics Commons^™

Miller, Winfield, 1852-1947 (Sc 3056), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3056. Letter, 26 March 1910, to Ridgely B. Hilleary, Indianapolis, Indiana, from Winfield Miller, chairman of a committee charged with welcoming home former Vice President and Mrs. Charles W. Fairbanks from a trip around the world. Miller thanks him for his assistance at the reception held for the couple on 24 March.

Vote!, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Elections/Voting

Bibliography and photographs of a display of government documents from Minnesota State University, Mankato.

The Lincoln-Douglas Solution, Allen C. Guelzo

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

No matter which of Monday night’s two candidates you think won or lost, the real loser was the debate itself. The physical environment of Hofstra’s Mack Center was surprisingly cramped and poorly lighted; the podiums made both candidates seem remote; and Lester Holt’s hapless management was repeatedly stampeded-over by the debaters and the audience. Both Trump and Clinton appeared to be playing parodies of themselves, Trump by turns meandering and furious, Clinton condescending and unimaginative. [excerpt]

Why The Kaine Vs. Pence Vice Presidential Debate Matters, Kyle C. Kopko, Christopher J. Devine

Political Science Faculty Publications

Tim Kaine and Mike Pence both have been described as boring.

Many Americans still don’t know who they are, and they share their parties’ tickets with two of the most controversial and unpopular presidential candidates in modern political history. So, it’s a safe bet that their first and only debate on Tuesday night will not draw the record-setting ratings of last week’s first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump – or even come close.

With the possible exception of 2008, when Joe Biden and Sarah Palin were vice presidential candidates, running mates simply are not the focal point …

How Clinton And Trump Are Using Their Running Mates On The Campaign Trail, Christopher J. Devine, Kyle C. Kopko

Political Science Faculty Publications

Remember how Tim Kaine was supposed to help the Democratic ticket appeal to Latino voters because he speaks fluent Spanish? And how, if selected as Hillary Clinton’s running mate, he would help her win votes in his home state of Virginia? Or how Mike Pence would be able to serve as an emissary to Midwestern and conservative voters if selected as Donald Trump’s running mate?

Did Clinton and Trump really believe the veepstakes punditry that Kaine and Pence could deliver these electoral advantages? And do these considerations help explain how the running mates are being used on the campaign trail …

The Political Personality Of 2016 Democratic Presidential Nominee Hillary Clinton, Aubrey Immelman

Psychology Faculty Publications

This paper presents the results of an indirect assessment of the personality of Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democratic nominee in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The present report combines data from five studies conducted between 1998 and 2016 from the conceptual perspective of personologist Theodore Millon.

Psychodiagnostically relevant data about Clinton was collected from biographical sources and media reports and synthesized into a personality profile using the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with Axis II of DSM–IV.

The personality profile yielded by the MIDC was analyzed in accordance with interpretive …

Chinese Christians For Trump, Justin Kh Tse

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

The Political Personality Of 2016 Republican Presidential Nominee Donald J. Trump, Aubrey Immelman

Psychology Faculty Publications

This paper presents the results of an indirect assessment of the personality of Donald J. Trump, Republican nominee in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, conducted 2015–2016 from the conceptual perspective of personologist Theodore Millon.

Psychodiagnostically relevant data about Trump were collected from biographical sources and media reports and synthesized into a personality profile using the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with DSM-III-R, DSM-IV, and DSM-5.

The personality profile yielded by the MIDC was analyzed in accordance with interpretive guidelines provided in the MIDC and Millon Index of …

No Witnesses: Protest Policing And The Media At The 2008 Republican National Convention, Robert David Frenzel

Institute for the Humanities Theses

The importance of First Amendment protections for assembly, speech, and the press is manifest during protest events in a way that is not seen in many other situations. Entrenched political and commercial powers, which benefit from the status quo and resist the change supported by the protesters, use many tactics to suppress the message and repress the messenger. One of the tools of repression is the policing of protests. Protest policing, where the government uses law enforcement personnel as a tool to impose its will on the protesters, has evolved over the years. Another of the power center’s tactics is …

Normalization Policies With Cuba: Implications For Political And Economic Reform, Ramona N. Khan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

For longer than the past half century, the relationship between the United States and Cuba has been one of antagonism, mistrust, betrayal, hostility and defiance. Decades of mutual hostility arising from Cuba’s post revolution adoption of an economic system that emulated that of the Soviet Union, along with the long history of U.S. interference in Cuba’s domestic and international affairs that predated the Castro revolution and continued afterward, have resulted in this rancorous relationship. Cuba’s move to communism shortly after the Castro regime came to power was regarded as a threat to both democracy and capitalism by the United States, …

“God Is Near": American Theocracy And The Political Theology Of Joseph Smith, Alan P. Koenig

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Mormon prophet Joseph Smith established the quintessentially “American religion” according to religious critics like Harold Bloom, perhaps the last major religion to emerge in the Western world. Founded during the rise of Jacksonian Democracy, early Mormonism espoused many populist and egalitarian tenets, yet behind Smith’s theology of an ever more exalted path to individual godhood lay an extraordinary politics demanding a new, theocratic hierarchy. This dissertation will discuss how Smith’s apocalypticism and exceptional politics of continual revelation confronted a pluralistic Protestant society with the superseding aim of creating a uniquely American kingdom. As a political theorist, Smith’s apocalyptic theology …

A Fractured Party, John M. Rudy

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

The Republican party was fractured and in tatters. Warring factions could barely decide the most important issues of the day, let along rally around a candidate. A decade of fractious politics within the party left no true power brokers. The former Republican president was less than enthusiastic about the tickets his party fielded. America was faced with deciding between two candidates plagued by scandal. And a man from Adams County was not above trying to stir up even more trouble. [excerpt]

My Turn: 'We The People' And The Garland Nomination, John M. Greabe

Law Faculty Scholarship

[Excerpt] "Because I teach constitutional law, a friend recently asked me whether Judge Merrick Garland or President Obama might successfully sue to compel the Senate to take action on the nomination of Judge Garland to fill the vacancy on the United States Supreme Court.

Almost certainly not, I told him. Under settled precedent, a judge would dismiss such a case as raising a non-legal ''political" question. It would be very difficult to develop acceptable decisional standards for such a claim. Moreover, courts are reluctant to entertain lawsuits challenging mechanisms that the Senate uses to oversee the judiciary."

2016 Primary Election And Caucus Data, Carrie M. Pirmann, Emily Sherwood, Emily Tevebaugh

Election Data

The data contained in this dataset cover the 2016 Presidential Primary and Caucus election season. Results are reported for Democratic and Republican candidates only. Data were sourced from finalized (certified) state election board results wherever possible. All data is reported at the county level unless otherwise noted. Refer to the 2016 Primary Election Data Sources document for a full list of data sources.

Results for Alaska, Colorado (Democratic only), Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, and Washington state are for these states caucuses. The vote totals reported are raw numbers of votes.

Data for North Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming is not included …

The History Behind Philippine President Duterte’S Obama Insult, Shelton Woods

History Faculty Publications and Presentations

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte speaks his mind. He does not back down.

Some believe he took his plain speaking too far this week before leaving the Philippines for a summit in Laos.

Reporters asked how Duterte intended to answer President Obama’s concerns over the more than 1,300 drug suspects killed over the past two months in Duterte’s anti-drug campaign. Using a well-known Tagalog obscenity, the Phillipine president called Obama a son of a bitch.

Drake, Kentucky - Precinct Directory (Sc 3054), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscript Small Collection 3054. Precinct Directory and Voting List for Drake Precinct, Warren County, Kentucky. Contains voters’ names, post office, occupation, party affiliation, race and sex. The list appears to have been compiled for an election to be held on 8 November 1927.

How Civility Works, Keith Bybee

Institute for the Study of the Judiciary, Politics, and the Media at Syracuse University

Is civility dead? Americans ask this question every election season, but their concern is hardly limited to political campaigns. Doubts about civility regularly arise in just about every aspect of American public life. Rudeness runs rampant. Our news media is saturated with aggressive bluster and vitriol. Our digital platforms teem with expressions of disrespect and trolls. Reflecting these conditions, surveys show that a significant majority of Americans believe we are living in an age of unusual anger and discord. Everywhere we look, there seems to be conflict and hostility, with shared respect and consideration nowhere to be found. In a …

The Role, Accomplishments, And Challenges Of The Congressional Black Caucus Veterans Braintrust, Ron E. Armstead

William Monroe Trotter Institute Publications

In 1971, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) began its seminal investigation of racism in the military. A year into the investigation, the caucus reported the military had done little, if anything, to address racism in the ranks (188 Cong. Rec., 6739-6744, 1972). The problem continued as one of the most critical issues for the CBC during the latter years of the Vietnam War (188 Cong. Rec. pp. E8674-8688).

Concurrently, in 1971, the CBC held its first annual dinner, which some 500 people attended, including the late actor Ozzie Davis. Over the years, this dinner has grown into a five-day legislative …

America’S Legendary Ignorance About Africa Persists, Julius A. Amin

History Faculty Publications

In an increasingly interconnected and technological global environment, ignorance of Africa is no longer acceptable. This, especially from major political leaders. Yet, examples of such ignorance are evident in the current American presidential campaign. Neither the Republican nominee Donald J. Trump nor the democratic nominee Hillary R. Clinton has articulated any concrete vision for an African policy.

Beyond Density & Diversity: Understanding The Socio-Cultural Geography Of Contemporary Presidential Elections, David F. Damore, Robert E. Lang

Brookings Mountain West Publications

In the aftermath of the 2012 presidential election, a good deal of commentary held that President Obama’s reelection resulted from the country’s changing demography and his overwhelming support among nonwhite voters residing in the country’s urban spaces. Less discussed was the fact that Republican Mitt Romney also carried many urbanized states with ethnically and racially diverse populations and that President Obama would not have been reelected without securing the Electoral Votes of a number of rural states with large white populations. In this paper, we argue that the combination of educated populations and a socio-cultural construct we call northernness allow …

Elected Presidency Changes: It’S Not Just About The Politics, David Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The debate about the elected presidency(EP) is driven not just by politics and the law,but by perceptions, values and notions offairness. Policymakers and the public need toengage on these for fruitful discussions.

What Goes Up Must Not Come Down: The Tweet Retraction Process Of Politicians, Paige Settles

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

In 2011, Congressman Anthony Weiner demonstrated the risks politicians face when utilizing Twitter. While past scholarship regarding Twitter has focused on the impact of the tweets candidates share with their voters, academic attention has not been afforded to the tweets candidates delete. This thesis seeks to delve further into the analysis of Twitter as a political campaign tool by examining the practice of tweet retraction. To achieve this end, this research presents two studies. The first analyzes the deleted tweets of members of the 112th Congress between May and November of 2012 in terms of quantity of retractions and the …

Voter Turnout In A Low Interest, Off-Year Election: A Field Experiment, Zachary Miller

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This thesis is an analysis on the effects of a low cost get out the vote (GOTV) effort through direct mail on a low interest, off year election. By conducting a field experiment divided into two stages, this project measures the effects of direct mail contact on voter turnout in the state of Kentucky. Postcards were sent during the final week of both the 2015 primary and general elections. The expectation is that those who received a postcard will be more likely to vote than non-recipients. Using data provided by the Kentucky Board of Elections, a data set was created …

Dublin Gulch’S “Tap ‘Er Light” Reveals Butte Soul, Evan Barrett

Highlands College

A newspaper column by Evan Barrett.

Published newspaper columns written by Evan Barrett on this topic, which vary somewhat in content from this commentary, appeared in the following publications:

Missoulian, September 8, 2016

Montana Standard, September 11, 2016

Menefee, Richard Hickman, 1809-1841 (Sc 3052), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3052. Letter, 16 December 1837, of Congressman Richard Hickman Menefee to attorney W. Rochester Beatty, Greenupsburg, Kentucky. Writing from Washington, D.C., Menefee asks Beatty to assume conduct of a lawsuit for a client in Salvisa, Kentucky. Referring perhaps to the Rebellions of 1837 in Upper and Lower Canada, he also declares the administration of President Martin Van Buren to be “astounded by the events of last month” and predicts its presentation of measures to the new session of Congress “timidly and irresolutely” in the face of strong …

Corporate Sponsors At Yosemite?: The Case Against Privatizing National Parks, John Freemuth, William Lowry

Public Policy and Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

The centennial of the National Park Service is inspiring an impressive amount of soul-searching about the agency and the lands for which it is responsible. This is timely and appropriate, as the NPS faces serious challenges that affect the preservation of these precious lands.

Election Districts - Warren County, Kentucky (Sc 3050), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3050. Class action complaint filed by five voters in U.S. District Court, Bowling Green, Kentucky, alleging malapportionment of election districts. The complaint seeks declarative and injunctive relief against the current apportionment and against holding a primary election for justices of the peace and constables. Details of the previous and current apportionments are included.

New Trade, New Politics: Intra-Industry Trade And Domestic Political Coalitions, Mary Anne Madeira

Publications and Research

Why are industries highly active in some battles over international trade policies, but in other instances, individual firms are highly active and industry groups are subdued? I argue that rising intra-industry trade in the postwar period has undermined traditional trade coalitions and created new opportunities for individual firms to become politically active. Drawing on new trade theories from economics, as well as work on firm heterogeneity and lobbying, I argue that industry associations become less active as intra-industry trade increases due to competing trade preferences among member firms. At the same time, individual firms become more politically active. My results …

The Limits Of Liberal Planning: The Lindsay Administration's Failed Plan To Control Development On Staten Island, Jeffrey A. Kroessler

Publications and Research

Staten Island grew rapidly after the Verrazano Narrows Bridge opened in 1964. Mayor John Lindsay introduced a plan to control and guide development there, and encouraged planned unit development. The Rouse Company, then building Columbia, Maryland, was contracted to plan new communities for the southern third of Staten Island to more than double the borough’s population. State Senator John Marchi introduced legislation for the South Richmond Development Corporation in 1971. The plan called for the city to use eminent domain to buy property and transfer it to the Rouse Company, which would also construct residential towers on landfill in Raritan …

Movements, Moments, And Movement-Moments: Generational Approaches To Organizing For Social Change, Carissa Tinker

Capstone Collection

Due to a recent upswing of college protests, and generational theory authors positioning Millennials as powerful players in building a new left to shift American politics, this research seeks to understand how different generations of organizers for social change approach their work. Emerging literature on social movements, political efficacy, and generational frameworks, combined with an analysis of the current political climate, illustrate the strong possibility of this new left being built.

This study asked participants of multiple generations about their experiences in the field to uncover perceptions of their role in the movement, differences in collective and external efficacy, and …