Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pftt2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-02T20:33:25.125Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Leading the Senate in the 110th Congress

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2008

Scott A. Frisch  and
Sean Q Kelly
Scott A. Frisch
Affiliation:
California State University, Channel Islands
Sean Q Kelly
Affiliation:
California State University, Channel Islands
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The 2006 midterm elections were nothing short of stunning. Republicans lost control of both chambers of Congress. More surprising than Democratic gains in the House were their gains in the Senate. In order to achieve a majority in the Senate the Democrats needed to reelect all of their incumbents and elect Democrats in three out of four competitive states, all of which had supported George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential elections (Missouri, Montana, Tennessee, and Virginia). Riding a wave of public discontent associated with the president's Iraq War policy, Democrats beat incumbents in Missouri, Montana, and Virginia to take a slim one-seat majority in the Senate. Democrats organized the Senate in the 110th Congress, with the support of two independents—Bernie Sanders (VT) and Independent Democrat Joseph Lieberman (CT).The authors thank Doug Harris for encouraging us to pursue this project and including it in the forum. Our analysis benefits from our separate experiences as participant-observers in the Senate. While a Presidential Management Intern, Frisch served in the Senate Office of Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ); Kelly was an APSA Congressional Fellow and worked for the Senate Democratic Leadership in the Democratic Policy Committee. nominate data used in this paper are made available by Keith Poole and Howard Rosenthal at www.voteview.com. Data on campaign contributions were supplied by Jamie Pimlott to whom we owe a debt of gratitude.

Type
SYMPOSIUM
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , January 2008 , pp. 69 - 75
Copyright
© 2008 The American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bradbury, Erin M., Ryan A. Davidson, and C. Lawrence Evans. 2006. “The Senate Whip System: An Exploration.” Presented at the Conference on Party Effects in the United States Senate, Duke University, April 7–8.Google Scholar
Green, Matthew N. 2006. “McCormack Versus Udall.” American Politics Research 34: 3–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, Matthew, and Douglas B. Harris. 2007. “Goal Salience and the 2006 Race for House Majority Leader.” Political Research Quarterly 60 (4): 618–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, Douglas B. 2007. “Framing Legislative Debates: A View from the Party Leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives.” Prepared for the Research Conference on Issue Framing, American University, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Kady II, Martin. 2006. “Get Along or Get Nowhere.” CQ Weekly Report, November 13, 3010–13.Google Scholar
Kelly, Sean Q. 1995a. “Democratic Leadership in the Modern Senate: The Emerging Roles of the Democratic Policy Committee.” Congress and the Presidency 22: 113–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelly, Sean Q. 1995b. “Generational Change and the Selection of the Senate Democratic Leader in the 104th Congress.” Presented at the annual meeting of the Southern Political Science Association, Tampa.Google Scholar
Kingdon, John W. 1984. Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies. New York: Harper Collins.Google Scholar
Lott, Trent. 2005. Herding Cats: A Life in Politics. New York: Regan Books.Google Scholar