POLS 300, American
Presidential Elections
Spring 2009
Professor Mikel
Wyckoff
Office: Zulauf 403, Wednesday
753-7056 mwyckoff@niu.edu
The first American
politicalparties were organized by our founding fathers even though many of
those menwere quite ambivalent about the desirability of parties and, indeed,
about thevery idea of allowing the masses to vote in presidential
elections. Despite their doubts,
founders likeJefferson, Madison and Hamilton soon came to the conclusion that
mass electorateswere a fact of life and that parties were needed to help
organize and bringcoherence to the electoral process. Since then, a two-party
system (with occasional input from smaller,third parties) has almost always
been present to help structure Americanpresidential elections. Althoughour party system may appear to be
static, in fact the parties have reorganizedand renewed themselves many times
through a process of “realignment.”
Just as political partieshave
reinvented themselves over time, political campaign styles and strategieshave
changed greatly over the years. Originally, presidential candidates were not
expected to campaign atall, and most of them didn’t! Butshortly after the turn of the 20th
Century, candidates learned thevalue of traveling around the country making
public speeches during campaigns,and eventually they learned to take advantage
of new electronic media to gettheir messages out to the people. And as we watch
the current campaign, it is obvious that the Internet isnow having profound
effects on how campaigns are organized, funded, andexecuted.
Voters, too, have changedover
the years. Voters in theearly years were
drawn from a nation of small farmers, and initially only whitemales who owned
property were thought to be properly qualified to vote. Later electorates have been shaped
byprocesses of industrialization and modernization, and over the years
exclusionsbased on race and gender were grudgingly abandoned. Furthermore, major blocs of voters have been
known to changetheir party loyalties.
Whitesoutherners, for example, used to be steadfast Democrats. Today most of them are loyalRepublicans.
POLS 300 will examine
thesechanging aspects of American presidential elections and we will study in
somedetail the candidates, issues and partisan trends that have appeared
inAmerican presidential elections during the post-World War II era.
The books shown below
arerequired for the course and are available for purchase at our campus
book-stores (and elsewhere):
John
Kenneth White and David M. Shea, NewParty
Politics: From
to the Information Age (2nd ed., Bedford/St. Martins, 2004).
KathleenHall
Jamieson, Packaging the Presidency (3rd
ed.,
Exams. Two midterms
and a final exam will begiven contributing 25%, 35% and 40%, respectively, to
your final grade. All exams will have a
significant long essaycomponent plus a few additional items such as multiple
choice, identification,or matching questions.
Asignificant portion of the final exam will be cumulative in nature,
requiringyou to deal with themes encountered throughout the course.
Attendance is notformally computed into
your grade but naturally I expect you to come regularly,to be on time when at
all possible, and to do the assigned readings onschedule. To encourage this Ireserve the right to
increase a final course grade by up to one-third of aletter as a reward for
good class participation. To help me
learn names I will set up a seating chart andwill keep a daily record of
attendance.
Makeup exams and grades of Incomplete willbe provided
cheerfully when needed but only for reasons of significant illness,personal
tragedy, or other similarly extraordinary circumstances, anddocumentary
evidence of the extraordinary circumstances normally must beprovided by the
student.
Cell Phones & Class Decorum. Please silence and refrain from usingyour cell
phone and other electronic devises during class. Also please be civil, use common sense,and
respect the needs of your fellow students, not to mention the needs of
thegrouchy old professor (“get off my lawn!”) who is trying to offer you a
decentlecture each day.
Extra Credit. Sorry, but
none is available. No exceptions.
Students with Disabilities. NIU
abides by theRehabilitation Act of 1973 which mandates reasonable
accommodations forqualified students with disabilities. If you have a disability
and require some type of instructionalaccommodation, please contact the Center
for Access-Ability Resources (CAAR),located in the University Health Services
building (753-1303).
COURSE OUTLINE AND READING ASSIGNMENTS
I will try to adhere to thisschedule
as closely as possible, but I reserve the right to make adjustments
ifnecessary. I may occasionally adda
reading to the schedule (for example, one or more readings dealing with the2008
presidential election need to be added).
It is your responsibility to be in class regularly and tocheck the
syllabus on Blackboard regularly so that you will be aware of theseoccasional
modifications.
Week 1 –Introduction to the course and some fundamental
characteristics of theelectoral process
(Week ofJanuary12)
Read: White/Shea,
Jack Rakove, “The
Accidental Electors,” NY Times
(12/19/00). (Blackboard)
FederalistPaper #68; locate
at: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/fed.asp
Week 2 –Evolution of the Election Processes: Nominations and
Campaigns (Week of January19)
Read:
Parsonsand
McCormick, “Obama's Formula: It's the Network; Technology Helped Campaign
Take Off and Change the Game,”
BethFouhy,
“Thirst for Change Trumped
(Blackboard)
Jamieson,
Week 3 – History and
Evolution of Political Partiesin
Read: White/Shea,Ch.
2-3 and
Week 4 – Voter
Decision Making and PartyRealignment (Week of February 2)
Read: White/Shea,
V.O.Key,
“A Theory of Critical Elections,” Journalof
Politics 17 (1955): pp. 3-11.
V.O.Key, “Secular Realignment and the Party System,” Journal
of Politics (1959):
pp. 198-201,
208-210.
MIDTERM EXAM I: Monday, February 9
Week 5 – Presidential
Elections, 1952-1956 (February 11 and
13)
Read: White/Shea, pp. 170-175 in
Jamieson,
Ch. 2-3.
Week 6 – Presidential
Elections, 1960 (Week of February 16)
Read: Jamieson, Ch. 4.
Week 7 – Presidential Elections, 1964 (Week of February 23)
Read: Jamieson,Ch.
5.
Week 8 – Presidential
Elections,1968 (Week of March 2)
Read: Jamieson,Ch.
6.
Spring Break: Week of March 9
Week 9 – Presidential
Elections,1972-1976 (Week of March 16)
Read: Jamieson,Ch.
7-8.
MIDTERM EXAM II: Monday, March 23
Week 9 – Presidential Elections,1980 (March
25 and 27)
Read: Jamieson,Ch.
9.
Week 10 – Presidential
Elections,1984-1988 (Week of March 30)
Read: Jamieson,Ch.
10-11.
Week 11 – Presidential
Elections,1992 (Week of April 6)
Read:
Week 12 – Presidential
Elections,1996 (Week of April 13)
Read: Sabato,"The November
Vote: A Status Quo Election," (e-reserves)
Additional reading
TBA.
Week 13 – Presidential Elections,2000-2004 (Week of April 20)
Read: Nelson,“The
Setting: George W. Bush, Majority President,” (e-reserves).
Pomper,“The
Presidential Election: The Ills of American Politics After 9/11,”(e-reserves).
Week 14 – Presidential
Elections,2008 (Week of April 27)
Read: TBA
FINAL EXAM –
May 4,12:00-1:50