Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Representation Inside and Outside Congress
- 2 Representation and Evaluation on the Senator's Terms
- 3 Measuring Presentational Styles with Senate Press Releases
- 4 Measuring Presentational Styles in Thousands of Press Releases
- 5 The Types of Presentational Styles in the U.S. Senate
- 6 The Electoral Connection's Effect on Senators' Presentational Styles
- 7 The Correspondence between Senators' Work in Washington and Presentational Styles
- 8 Why Presentational Styles Matter for Dyadic Representation
- 9 Why Presentational Styles Matter for Collective Representation
- 10 Presentational Styles and Representation
- Methods Appendix
- Bibliography
- Index
8 - Why Presentational Styles Matter for Dyadic Representation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2013
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Representation Inside and Outside Congress
- 2 Representation and Evaluation on the Senator's Terms
- 3 Measuring Presentational Styles with Senate Press Releases
- 4 Measuring Presentational Styles in Thousands of Press Releases
- 5 The Types of Presentational Styles in the U.S. Senate
- 6 The Electoral Connection's Effect on Senators' Presentational Styles
- 7 The Correspondence between Senators' Work in Washington and Presentational Styles
- 8 Why Presentational Styles Matter for Dyadic Representation
- 9 Why Presentational Styles Matter for Collective Representation
- 10 Presentational Styles and Representation
- Methods Appendix
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
INTRODUCTION
On June 7, 2007, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid (D-NV), introduced a motion to close debate on an immigration proposal. The motion would fail, with a coalition of Democrats and Republicans opposing the bill. After the vote, both Issue Oriented and Policy Wonk senators used their press releases to inform constituents about the vote and to explain their positions.
Liberal Democrats expressed their reluctant support of the legislation. Joe Biden (D-DE) argued that the failed “immigration bill isn't perfect, but it's an important step forward” (Biden 2007b). Ted Kennedy (D-MA) hoped the push for immigration reform would continue, arguing that even though “[t]he vote was obviously a big disappointment,” it made “no sense to fold our tent” (Kennedy 2007b). Barack Obama (D-IL) expressed disappointment that the reform failed, writing that even though “the bill in the Senate was imperfect,” he spent “the past two weeks work[ing] with my colleagues to fix the problems” (Obama 2007b). Some conservative Republicans voiced their opposition to the reform. Jim DeMint (R-SC), in a press release titled “DeMint to Oppose Immgration Bill,” argued that the Senate debate and amending process convinced him that “the Senate isn't serious about responsible reform” (Demint 2007b). And Jeff Sessions (R-AL), one of the leading opponents of the reform, argued that he thought the failed “cloture vote is a result of senators hearing directly from their constituents and learning of their sincere concern about this legislation” (Sessions 2007).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Representational Style in CongressWhat Legislators Say and Why It Matters, pp. 120 - 140Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2013