Search results

This article examines the role Ralph Nader played in the 2000 presidential election. The author believes that Nader's participation in this election was a positive force because it stimulated debate among the Left, something that has been sorely lacking for many years. A critique of the pro-Gore position & a defense of the pro-Nader stance are included. The author looks at the current political circumstances in the US as a starting point, & critiques the "winner take all" stance the Electoral College encourages. The article also contains a history of the Democrats & the Left since the Johnson administration. Reformers must work outside the Democratic Party since the argument is made that they crush reformers inside the party (Jesse Jackson is used as an example). The article also includes a case study of Walter Mondale's campaign. The author believes Nader took an important stand during the 2000 election & that a strong third party might force the Democrats to return to their principles instead of their present stance of aping the Republicans. G. Gifford

This paper analyzes whether & how party politics transform German bicameralism. Based on the policy positions of bicameral legislators, the study computes the win sets, the "yolks" of each chamber & a Nash solution in order to analyze empirically the effects of party politics on German bicameralism. In comparison to the basic bicameral model, hypotheses on bicameral conflict & policy stability are tested in the case of similar & different party majorities in the two-dimensional policy space of German labor politics. The results show that party politics transform German bicameralism in two ways. Similar majorities collapse bicameral checks-&-balances, while different party majorities come close to the basic bicameral model with high policy stability & conflict between both chambers. 1 Table, 4 Figures, 57 References. Adapted from the source document.

The respective candidates' performances in the 2000 US presidential primaries are scrutinized. Overviews of the political careers of Republican candidates George W. Bush & John McCain & Democrat candidates Al Gore & Bill Bradley are presented. It is contended that Gore had secured the Democratic Party's nomination for president shortly after the New Hampshire primary; however, it is claimed that McCain remained a viable candidate until the Super Tuesday primaries. Differences between the Democrat & Republican primary campaigns are then discussed. Several characteristics of the delegates & party supporters who attended the respective national nominating conventions are reported including gender, race, ideology, educational attainment, income, religion, & principal policy concerns. In addition, the American public's perceptions of Bush & Gore immediately following the nominating conventions are reviewed. It is concluded that the second half of the national primaries actually served as the initial part of the presidential election campaign for both Bush & Gore. 5 Tables, 3 References. J. W. Parker

The issue of government spending provides an interesting context for testing issue-framing effects in American public opinion. Competing partisan elites clearly portray the spending issue in different ways: Republicans tend to focus on broad, general appeals, while Democrats aim at more specific forms of programmatic expenditures. Their differing arguments undoubtedly arise because the varied issue frames generate different kinds of responses. This study uses data from the 1992 CPS National Election Study to examine the preceding hypothesis. The results from the empirical analysis show that public opinion on government spending does, in fact, vary markedly with the presentation of the issue. This framing effect is powerful enough to induce individual-level opinion change, & framing effects arise because varying presentations of the government-spending issue activate different sets of influences on citizens' issue attitudes. These findings have broad implications concerning both the magnitude of framing effects & the explicitly political nature of the issue-framing process. 3 Tables, 1 Figure, 1 Appendix, 83 References. Adapted from the source document.