Senators on the Campaign Trail: The Politics of Representation: 6 (The Julian J. Rothbaum Distinguished Lecture Series) - Softcover

Richard F. Fenno (author)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0806130628 ISBN 13: 9780806130620

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998

Synopsis

This is a book about the politics of representative democracy, written from the perspective of the politicians who make it work. Typically, political scientists study campaigns from the perspective of the voter and for the purpose of explaining election outcomes. But campaigns also need to be studied from the perspective of the candidate, for the purpose of understanding representation.

Richard F. Fenno, Jr., traveled with ten U.S. senators as they campaigned in their home states-using what he calls the ""drop in/drop out, tag along/hang around"" method of research-to present a developmental picture of their activities. His focus here is on three such activities - pursuing a career, campaigning for office, and building constituency connections. Taken together, the three constitute the political underpinnings of representative democracy.

Fenno describes the achievement, the testing, and the maintenance of representational relationships. He examines challengers and incumbents, winners and losers, and motivations, strategies, and behaviors; and he reports on differences, similarities, and patterns among them. In studying the candidates' varied careers, campaigns, and connections in stages and sequences and in depth - and in allowing us to hear them reflect on these experiences - Fenno has been able to offer rare insights into campaigns and elections, insights very different from conventional ones that concentrate on the behavior of voters.

In its focus on the process of representative democracy, Senators on the Campaign Trail offers a rich, rounded, developmental view of some high-level individuals who work at the business of representation. For scholars, the book suggests some qualitative confirmation and added stimulation in forging generalizations about politicians. For citizens, the book argues for replacing the conventional blanket condemnation of our politicians, so prevalent today, with more discriminating judgments about what they do, and why and to what purpose they do it.

About this title

About the Author

Richard F. Fenno, Jr., is Distinguished University Professor of Political Science at the University of Rochester. His twelve previous books on the Congress and other political subjects include the award-winning Home Style: House Members in Their Districts, for which this book is a long-awaited sequel.

From the Back Cover

This is a book about the politics of representative democracy, written from the perspective of the politicians who make it work. Typically, political scientists study campaigns from the perspective of the voter and for the purpose of explaining election outcomes. But campaigns also need to be studied from the perspective of the candidate, for the purpose of understanding representation. Richard F. Fenno, Jr., traveled with ten U.S. senators as they campaigned in their home states - using what he calls the "drop in/drop out, tag along/hang around" method of research - to present a developmental picture of their activities. His focus here is on three such activities - pursuing a career, campaigning for office, and building constituency connections. Taken together, the three constitute the political underpinnings of representative democracy. In its focus on the process of representative democracy, Senators on the Campaign Trail offers a rich, rounded, developmental view of some high-level individuals who work at the business of representation. For scholars, the book suggests some qualitative confirmation and added stimulation in forging generalizations about politicians. For citizens, the book argues for replacing the conventional blanket condemnation of our politicians, so prevalent today, with more discriminating judgments about what they do, and why and to what purpose they do it.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0806130628
• ISBN 13: 9780806130620
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 448