First published in 1987, Elections in America focuses upon different substantive aspects of elections in America. The essays in the volume orient themselves differentially with respect to these alternative perspectives on the role of elections in democratic governance. Although varied in substantive focus, methodological approach, and theoretical orientation, these essays critically examine what we think we know about elections in America and bring together both past and present to bear on the investigation of the continuing evolution of the role played by elections in American democracy.
Divided into five parts—the elections as a democratic institution; party reform and the nomination process; the electronic campaign; money and politics; and the 1984 elections, this book is a must read for students and researchers of political science, particularly of American politics.
Part 1. The Elections as a Democratic Institution
1. Sending Them a Message—Getting a Reply: Presidential Elections and Democratic Accountability
Kay Lehman Schlozman and Sidney Verba
2. Elections as Democratic Institutions
Walter Dean Burnham
Part 2. Party Reform and the Nomination Process
3. Party Reform, Nominating Processes, and Democratic Ends
William Crotty
4. Farewell to Reform—Almost
Austin Ranney
Part 3. The Electronic Campaign
5. Kind Pictures and Harsh Words: How Television Presents the Candidates
Doris A. Graber
6. News Media Myths and Realities: What the Network News Did and Didn’t Do in the 1984 General Campaign
Michael J. Robinson
Part 4: Money and Politics
7. Enough is Too Much: Money and Competition in House Elections
Gary C. Jacobson
8. Varieties of Experience: Campaign Finance in the House and Senate
Frank J. Sorauf
Part 5: The 1984 Election
9. President Reagan as a Political Strategist
Aaron Wildavsky
10. Voter Turnout and Electoral Preference: The Anomalous Reagan Elections
John R. Petrocik
11. The Democratic Nomination Campaign: Voter Rationality and Instability in a Changing Campaign Environment
Kathleen A. Frankovic
12. The Election of 1984 and the Future of American Politics
Warren E. Miller
Biography
Kay Lehman Schlozman serves as J. Joseph Moakley Endowed Professor of Political Science at Boston College. The winner of the American Political Science Association’s 2004 Rowman and Littlefield Award for Innovative Teaching in Political Science, she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in American politics. She is the winner of the APSA’s 2006 Frank Goodnow Award for Distinguished Service to the Profession of Political Science; the 2016 Samuel Eldersveld Career Achievement Award; and the American Political Science Association’s 2018 Warren E. Miller Lifetime Achievement Award, which honors an outstanding career of intellectual accomplishment and service to the profession in the field of elections, public opinion, and voting behavior.
