POL-245: Political Parties and Elections

      In this course we study American campaigns and elections. The course is taught in spring semester of even-numbered years, which means that there are campaigns going on at the time, and in presidential election years we feature the Iowa Presidential Caucuses. So our discussions are informed, so to speak, by our own lab rats who are running around the country trying to get elected!

      Each student will participate in a congressional election simulation produced by Congressional Quarterly, taking the role of candidate, campaign manager, media consultant, press secretary, data analyst, researcher, print or broadcast journalist.  We will also study statistical analysis of electoral behavior with the help of a web-based data analysis system.

      Political Parties and Elections counts towards the Quantitative and Behavioral Analysis category for general education requirements. It satisfies the "advanced American politics" requirement for political science majors and minors. It may also be applied towards a major in American Studies, and to secondary school teaching endorsement in American government. It is a writing emphasis course.

Information on current elections:

• information and links to the 2008 presidential candidates:
  
• The New York Times. You will need to register and get a username and password, but it is free
• CQ Moneyline: the most usable data on campaign finance
• "Follow the Money": finance data from state elections
  
• separating truth from fiction: PolitiFact
  
• Campaigns and Elections magazine
• Cook Political Report: widely-cited national political analysis and handicapping (some parts of this site require subscription)
  
• Data on political, economic and social issues from The Polling Report magazine

Report on political participation in 2004, focusing on young adults

General information about elections, with advocacy of specific reforms: fairvote.org

Pew Research Center for The People and the Press: includes media attention data since 1986

Information about campaign conduct as well as links to other sources about campaign spending, issues, and political parties
Parties on the Web:

                         REQUIRED TEXTS (SPRING 2010)
        William H. Flanigan and Nancy H. Zingale, Political Behavior of the 
American Electorate (CQ Press, 12th ed., 2010)
        Charles Prysby and Carmine Scavo, Voting Behavior: The 2004 Election
(American Political Science Assn, 2009): online at http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/SETUPS2008
	James A. Thurber and Candice J. Nelson (eds), Campaigns and Elections American Style: Transforming American Politics 
(Westview, 3rd ed., 2010)

        
                         COURSE SCHEDULE

Course introduction

Next Course: The American Congress

Last Course: Religion and American Politics

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last update 1/4/10