This course covers the U.S. Congress as an institution and explores its evolution and place in the political process. The objective is to provide both a historical and analytical perspective, asking "What was Congress intended to be?" and "How has it evolved?", as well as a contemporary view, asking "What is Congress today?".
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14. Potential questions for the Final Exam: [PDF]
Headlines: Yahoo! News Congress, Politico.com Congress
Congress Could Punt On the Fiscal Cliff, by Dan Friedman and Billy House, Nat Jour, 10/25 (ALL Congressional Leadership)
U.S. Congress may face another debt-limit showdown in 2013, by Richard Cowan & Rachelle Youngai, Reuters, 10/28 (ALL Outside Actors)
11 Key Congressional Committees for Advisors to Worry About, by Marlene Satter, AdvisorOne (ALL cong'l partisans/rank and file)
10/17:
Specter dies as Congress is at its most polarized, by Marc Levy, AP, 10/14 (Moderate Republican)
10/10:
The Republican Resurgence of 2010, by Gary C. Jacobson. (article is on Vista)
Dems out to reverse GOP's 2010 gains in Illinois, by Sophia Tareen, AP, 10/2
Senate Race Rankings: Good Charlotte, by Hotline Staff, Nat Jour, 10/2
9/24:
Congress finishes up truncated schedule to campaign full-time, by Lisa Mascaro, LAT, 9/17
Congress averts shutdown with another stopgap budget..., FOX (AP), 9/14
1.
24/7 online support center for GeorgiaVIEW Vista
2.
New service available to create and store bibliographies:
RefWorks
3. Join the ! Membership is open to all (POLS majors or not).
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4. Our textbooks are available in various forms as
ebooks:
--Congress
Reconsidered is available as an Amazon Kindle ebook
--The
Decline and Resurgence of Congress is available as a Google ebook
--Congressional
Government is available as a Google ebook
5. Potential questions for the first exam: [PDF]
6. PDFs of class PowerPoints:
[Refresher Lecture] [Evolution: Overview (Dodd 1,2; Sundquist 1,2)]
[Rise/Fall
of Speaker] [Evolurtion: Ascendancy (Wilson)].
If I get the chance, I will try to add videos, too. NOTE: some refresher lecture videos
are here
7. :
Electoral Golf (site is under construction;
our class will do CONTEST B)
8.
Congressional Party Balance
1945-2011
9.
Structural Advantage of
the Republican Party (based on Jacobson 2005)
10.
Party polarization in
Congress -- Poole NOMINATE data, 1879-2011 (PDF)
11. Potential
questions for the Second Exam: [PDF]
12. NOTE: New project due
date -- Monday, November 26th at noon.
13. Presentation Schedule:
Wednesday, 11/28 (outline due in class on
11/26, revision due 12/5): 1. French;
2. Nowland, White
Friday, 11/30 (outline due in class on 11/28, revision due 12/5):
1. Bobbs, McMahon, Williams;
2. Miles
Monday, 12/3
(outline due in class on 11/30, revision due 12/10):
1. Amsden, Myers, Ulmer; 2. Bates,
Wiggers
, in the lower right
corner of the page. On the next page, select 'student':
