Who Runs For The Legislature? - Softcover

Moncrief, Gary F.; Squire, Peverill; Jewell, Malcolm E.

9780130266088: Who Runs For The Legislature?

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0130266086 ISBN 13: 9780130266088

Publisher: Prentice Hall, 2000

This is the first comprehensive book on state legislative candidates in almost 30 years. Based on extensive interviews with over 600 candidates--"traditional" and "non- traditional"--in 8 states, it is exciting and easy to read and not only reveals the inner-workings of the campaign process, but provides an in-depth look at what motivates "ordinary" people to seek office. Focuses on non-incumbants and features a series of in-depth "Candidate Profiles." Candidacy as Political Participation. The Context of Recruitment and Candidacy. The Agents of Recruitment. The Candidate and the Campaign. The Road Less Traveled: Women, Minorities and Third Party Candidates. Candidates and the Quality of Civil Life. For anyone interested in State Government, Legislative Politics, Elections, and Campaigns.

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From the Inside Flap:

PREFACE

It seems that almost everything written about political campaigns in the United States focuses on the national campaigns for president and the Congress, or occasionally on statewide campaigns for governor. Granted, these are high profile campaigns with substantial money and media exposure. They are, however, but a very small part of the total number of campaigns in the United States.

Within any given two-year period, there are only about 470 elections for federal office: 435 for the U.S. House of Representatives, and 33 or 34 for the U.S. Senate (and, depending on the year, there is the presidential election). Even if all the states held elections for their constitutional officers (governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, etc.) in the same year, the total number of statewide elections would amount to fewer than 300. But in any given two-year period, there are between 5,000 and 6,000 state legislative elections.

State legislative elections are increasingly important. As the tide of federalism ebbs away from the national government, its powers and responsibilities wash upon state shores. Today, state governments—and particularly the state legislatures—make important and often innovative policy decisions involving education, health care, social welfare, criminal justice, taxation, and many other issues.

Furthermore, state legislatures are a critical training ground for future national officeholders. Over half of the members of the U.S. Congress are former state legislators. Many, if not most, governors and other statewide officials previously served in the state legislature.

Unfortunately, state legislative elections today do not attract enough candidates. Incumbents often face no opposition. Potential challengers are scared off by the difficulties of a campaign against a better known, more politically experienced, well-funded incumbent. Even if there is no incumbent running, many qualified people do not want to undertake the very arduous task of campaigning.

Yet some people do make the decision to run. They cross the threshold from private citizen to public candidate. This book—Who Runs for the Legislature?—is about those people. It is not about the people who are already serving in the legislature. It is about the nonincumbents who run for office. Who are these people? Why are they willing to run? How did they come to the decision?

Our answers to these questions are based on a questionnaire survey of candidates in eight states, on personal interviews with candidates in three states, and on both a survey and personal interviews with party leaders in over half of the states.

A Boise State University (BSU) Faculty Research Grant helped pay for the questionnaires and travel to interview candidates. We wish to thank the Office of Research Administration at BSU for making these funds available. Amy Allen provided very capable research assistance at BSU.

Thanks also go to Paul Herrnson, Professor of Political Science at the University of Maryland, for his support and belief in this project. As editor of the Real Politics in America series, Paul demonstrated a strong and consistent vision and a quiet patience as he helped us mold the manuscript into this book. Beth Gillett Mejia, former Executive Editor for Prentice Hall's political science division and now Director of Marketing, has been very supportive and helpful; she is the consummate professional. Kari Callaghan Mazzola and John Mazzola handled the production process with skill; they were a pleasure to work with.

Finally, we thank the state party officials and the hundreds of candidates who took the time to complete our surveys, and we especially thank the many candidates, party leaders, and other experts who consented to personal interviews.

Gary F. Moncrief
Peverill Squire
Malcolm E. Jewell

Review:

"Moncrief, Squire, and Jewell bring a breadth of knowledge and experience to the analysis of candidates in state legislative elections that is both accessible to a general audience and valuable to scholars who specialize in electoral politics."-Linda Fowler, University of Dartmouth "State legislative elections are the Rodney Dangerfields of political science: They get no respect. That's unfortunate because they're significant events in American politics. Gary Moncrief, Peverill Squire, and Malcolm Jewell have focused superb scholarship on a vital topic that needs much more attention."-Ronald A. Faucheux, Ph.D., Editor-in-chief of Campaigns & Elections Magazine and former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives "Based on interviews and survey data, Moncrief, Squire, and Jewell's findings offer valuable information about how and why non-incumbents decide to run, who recruits them, and what factors impede and facilitate their candidacies. In an era of disengagement when too many elections are uncontested, Who Runs for the Legislature? directs attention to a group of people from whom we can learn important lessons about influences on political participation."-Ruth B. Mandel, Director and Professor, Eagleton Institute of Politics

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