Political scientists' long-standing love affair with the United States Congress no doubt baffles people outside the profession. By the same token, the popularity of courses on Congress is not fully understood. Articles and monographs on the subject pour out at a phenomenal rate, and students receive unique benefits from courses on the subject year after year. Still the question is posed: Why so much attention to the U.S. Congress?

Much of the puzzlement arises from Congress's persistent image problem. The other branches of government have nothing quite like the comic image of Senator Snort, the florid and incompetent windbag, or Congressman Bob Forehead, the bland and media-driven founder of the "JFK Look-Alike Caucus." Pundits and humorists — from Mark Twain and Will Rogers to Johnny Carson, from Thomas Nast to Garry Trudeau — find Congress an inexhaustible source of raw material. Running down Congress, it seems, is a leading national pastime.